Prehistoric Park
by corviknight
Summary: An invitation to a mysterious new safari park goes horribly awry.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

They would, of course, deny it if asked about it later, but when Team Skull's newly recruited grunts managed to stumble their way through security it was only sheer dumb luck that saved them from being caught. The boat (freighter, as Todd had heard one of the crew members call it) had only been docked at Seafolk Village for a couple of hours so far, but if its last few visits were anything to go by it wouldn't be there for much longer. Nobody knew where it went afterwards.

"Could you make _any_ more noise?" said Kelly. She bumped him with her shoulder and glared. He glared back. "They're going to catch us."

His cheeks flushed with anger, but he forced himself to keep his mouth shut. After all, she wasn't actually wrong. If they got caught they'd be done for and then Guzma would be pissed. He made an effort to lighten his footsteps as they crept further down the dull hallway. Lights flickered ominously as they passed.

"This may have been a bad idea," Kelly whispered then, but she gestured to an ajar door and they moved towards it.

"It's what Guzma wants us to do," said Todd. He'd been listening to her hesitant protests since last night and he wasn't really interested in hearing any more of them. "Don't you want to prove yourself to the team?"

"Of course I do." She pushed the door open and a metallic groan reverberated through the corridor. Todd flinched and glanced around to make sure nobody had heard. When nobody came running in their direction he slipped into the next room. "I don't want to go to prison either though. If Guzma really wanted this doing then-"

"Shut up whining!"

The room was almost completely dark, so he felt more than saw her brown eyes boring into the side of his head. She wasn't as committed to the cause as he was. She didn't understand, but he did. If they proved themselves worthy of Guzma's trust today they'd be welcomed into the fold. Really welcomed this time, and not just sniggered at from a distance by older Team Skull members who still saw them as outsiders. _Nothing but a drain on their resources. Too young to pull their weight._ He swallowed and cast their cruel words from his mind. He'd show them.

"Look at this," said Kelly.

He blinked, his eyes taking it's time adjusting to the sudden darkness. The room, it seemed, was being used for storage. Made sense really given how many boxes they'd already watched a group of burly crew members carry onto the ship. Unmarked crates were stacked high against the walls and other boxes of varying sizes were sat littered around. He shivered, though he wasn't sure why, and moved over to where Kelly was prying open the lid of one of the smaller crates. He heard a loud snap of something giving and darted forward to catch the lid before it hit the floor. Coarse wood rubbed against his palms.

"Oops," said Kelly, apologetically. He leaned the lid against the side of the box and released an anxious breath. Once again he listened out for the telltale sign of rushing footsteps come to haul them away, but none came. "Oh," said Kelly then. "It's just Pokemon food."

He turned his attention to the can she was holding up. Magikarps decorated the side.

"They eat Magikarps?" said Kelly, disgusted.

"What? You've never eaten meat before?"

"I happen to be a vegetarian."

It must be nice to have that kind of choice, he thought. As a general rule he'd eat whatever he was given. It was better than the alternative.

"Check another box," he said.

They went in separate directions, opening different sized crates and boxes as they went. Todd felt his irritation rise as without fail, every single container was revealed to hold more Pokemon food. He picked up a sitrus berry and threw it on the floor in frustration. It bounced and then rolled behind another crate in a way that was entirely unsatisfying.

"I can't believe we broke onto this stupid boat just for a load of Pokemon food." Todd jumped, not having heard Kelly step up behind him. "I wonder where it's all going?"

"Who cares?" said Todd. He pulled at his slightly ill-fitting tank top. "We should take some of this back the boss and tell him what we found out."

What Kelly was about to say next Todd never found out. A blaring horn sliced through the air and he took a reflexive step backwards, tripping on one of the discarded crate lids as he went and falling with a hard and painful thud onto his backside. Kelly brought hands up to jam against her ears, eyes widened in alarm. _Shit_.

The boat began to move.

* * *

The heat was unbearable. Sweat prickled at the back of her neck and, despite her sunglasses, the glare of the sun had her squinting. Diantha folded her arms across her chest and willed her tapping foot to still. Five more minutes, she decided. Five more minutes before she insisted they leave without their missing companions. It had taken a lot of effort and shuffling of things around to fit this into her already brimming schedule and she wasn't going to waste her day hanging around a desolate Alolan air field. She hadn't even wanted to come in the first place, but her agent had insisted. People and organisations often vied for her attention; she wasn't sure what had made this one different.

Her foot began to bob up and down again and she opened her mouth to question her maddeningly patient guide once more on their mysterious destination when the approaching sound of an engine caught her attention. She swallowed against her parched mouth and turned her head to see a distant but rapidly approaching dull green pickup truck.

"Ah," said Dr. Stone, with much too bright a smile on his weathered face. "Our final guests have arrived."

Diantha pursed her lips and stood up a little straighter. The sooner they got up in the air the better. Hopefully there'd at least be a stiff breeze up there, which was something they were sorely lacking at that moment. If she'd know they were going to be waiting around for so long she could have squeezed in an extra hour of sleep this morning. She wouldn't have done, but it would have been nice to have had that option.

The vehicle screeched to a halt in front of them, kicking up a cloud of dust that only just missed showering them with dirt. She was debating whether or not to give these people a piece of her mind when the door was thrown open and a tall, blonde woman unfolded herself from the car.

"Sorry I'm late," said the woman, an apologetic smile on her face. She straightened up and brushed loose creases from her long, black, entirely inappropriate for the weather coat. Hanging from her belt Diantha spotted six Pokeballs. A trainer then. Somewhere in the back of her mind she had the dim notion that she recognised this person from somewhere.

"Not a problem, Cynthia!" said Dr. Stone. He strode forward and shook the woman's hand. "We were expecting Carolina too?"

"My grandmother sends her apologies," said Cynthia. She frowned and cast a look back at the car. "She's been feeling a little under the weather since we got to Alola so I convinced her to stay at the hotel. I promised her a full report though."

Dr. Stone's grip around his cane tightened, but he nodded his head. "Disappointing. Can't be helped I suppose. Her health comes first." Cynthia didn't respond. "Now, let me introduce you to our other intrepid adventurers!"

He was laying it on a bit thick, Diantha thought, but she still offered Cynthia a tight smile as they shook hands.

"Cynthia," said Dr. Stone, "This is Diantha."

"The Kalos League Champion," said Cynthia. Her hand was cool and dry. "I remember." Diantha felt a flicker of satisfaction. Her work with the Pokemon League was often overlooked in favour of her acting work, so it was nice to be acknowledged.

"You two will have much to discuss, I'm sure," said Stone. Somehow Diantha doubted it. "This is Martin." They moved to the other member of the group and Cynthia shook his hand. "Corporate lawyer, specialising in insurance."

"It's an honour to meet you, Cynthia," said the man, in a way that sounded entirely false. The woman didn't seem to have much to say to that and behind her sunglasses, Diantha rolled her eyes. She'd known more than her fair share of sycophants.

Introductions had finally concluded and Cynthia turned her attention back to Dr. Stone. "I don't suppose you're finally going to tell me where we're going, Richard?"

"Not a chance," said Stone, with boyish enthusiasm. "Onto the helicopter!"

* * *

**AN**: Just a bit of an intro here. If you're expecting this fic to turn into Jurassic Park with fossil Pokemon…then you would be correct. Planning for this to eventually lead to Cynthia/Diantha.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

With the four of them packed in there, the helicopter was cramped and slightly uncomfortable. Diantha had somehow ended up sat next to Martin, who's grey hair was plastered to his head from the heat. At least, she thought, he seemed to have showered recently. She didn't think she could have handled the smell of sweat on top of the already poor conditions. Conversely, Cynthia, who sat opposite her, seemed unfazed and in fact seemed to be rather enjoying staring out the window at the ocean.

They must have been nearing their destination because Diantha could feel the gentle drop in altitude as the faint smell of engine oil grew stronger.

"So you're an actress?" Martin shouted over the whir of the chopper. Diantha turned her head to meet his watery blue eyes.

"Sometimes," she said. He gave her an oily smile.

"I can't help but wonder why Richard brought you along to see his little _science project_," he said, shooting Dr. Stone a significant look.

Stone waved him off. "All in good time, my friends. All in good time."

It was a question she'd been asking herself since last week if she were being honest. A strong Pokemon trainer though she might be, with a substantial amount of money backing her, she wasn't sure what Dr. Stone was expecting her to bring to the table here. The whole thing was so hush hush. So _secretive_. She could admit that she was mildly intrigued, but she had responsibilities back home and she resented being parted from them on what felt like a whim. It certainly didn't help that she already felt like she'd wasted a large portion of her morning waiting for their wayward companion to arrive either.

"There it is!" said Dr. Stone. He leaned against the window and pointed.

Diantha turned her head, breath catching in her throat. Choppy blue water sparkled below them, sunlight reflecting brilliantly off the small waves. Her eyes trailed upwards then, landing on the approaching island that Stone was staring at with such wonder in his eyes. It was a crescent shape with a small mountain range somewhere towards the middle surrounded by lush greenery. A dull ring of clouds circled it, obscuring some of the features. It was beautiful, no doubt, but nothing struck her as being remarkable. Still, something hung in the air. Excitement maybe. An inexplicable tension coiled in the base of her skull.

"It's stunning," said Cynthia.

"Wait until you see it up close," said Stone. The helicopter juddered. "Bad wind shears," he said. "You might want to hang onto something. It can be a little…thrilling."

Thrilling was right. The helicopter swooped through the sky, parting the clouds as it moved. They reached the island and circled for a moment, cliff face beside them coming into sharp view. Used to helicopter travel though she was, Diantha's heart thudded loudly in her chest and her hand drifted down to her lap to make sure her seatbelt was securely fastened. Opposite her, she spotted Cynthia tying her own seatbelt in a knot with a look of alarm on her face.

Wind whipped past them and the helicopter dropped like a stone. Her stomach jumped, ending up somewhere in her throat it felt, and through the noise she heard Martin yelping out curse words. The cliff face rushed past them, much closer than was comfortable.

"We're thinking of building an airstrip out into the ocean," Dr. Stone yelled. Electing to ignore him completely, Diantha gripped the sides of her seat as the helicopter jerked upwards and then plummeted downward.

The mild sense of relief when she spotted the landing pad was overwhelmed by fear. They dropped towards it at a breakneck pace, stopping only when an updraft caused them to bounce in the air. Then, finally, the helicopter hit the ground with a hard thud. Diantha's spine jolted and her breath came out in a sharp gasp. Before Diantha had even gathered her wits, Dr. Stone had already thrown open the door to the helicopter and had stepped outside into the glorious sunshine. He was spry for an old man.

The other three left the helicopter with heaving sighs of relief.

"I think I'll make my own way home," said Cynthia, mostly to herself it seemed. Diantha wished that was an option for her.

"Uncle!"

Diantha looked up, having not even realised she was staring at the ground. Sand brushed against her shoes, blown astray by the slowing propellers, and a wet sort of heat beat down on her bare arms. She was glad she'd left her trademark jacket back in the hotel.

"Steven, my boy," said Stone. The man crossed the short distance between them and pulled his nephew into a brief hug. "I'm so glad you could make it."

Unlike Cynthia, Steven Stone seemed to have forgone his usual attire and instead wore a loose white shirt rolled up at the sleeves and some dark purple Bermuda shorts. "How could I not?" he said. "It's about time you and Dad gave me the details of this mysterious project of yours."

Stone Senior sighed, though it was tinged with fondness. "You've always been impatient."

"You and I both know that isn't true. I just don't like surprises."

Stone waved him off airily. "You'll like this one." Steven made a dubious humming sound. "Of course you know Martin-" The two men exchanged short nods of acknowledgement. "-but have you met our other guests?"

"We met at a conference once," said Diantha. She smiled at Steven, and it felt much less strained than any of her other false cheeriness so far that day. They hadn't had much of a chance to talk at the time, but she'd appreciated his politeness and quiet intelligence.

"It's nice to see you again, Diantha," he said, with a respectful bow of his head. Then he turned his head. "Cynthia."

"Steven," she replied, a slight smirk on her face.

Dr. Stone looked between them, intrigued. "Am I sensing a little tension here?"

Cynthia's grey eyes seemed to glimmer in the sunlight. "Steven's still upset my Garchomp beat his Metagross last time we battled."

"You had a type advantage!"

"Did I, Steven? What a convenient excuse."

Steven laughed. "All right, all right. You won. Fair and square. I'll get you next time though."

"We'll see." The two grinned at each other and Diantha realised then that this probably wasn't the first time they'd had this conversation. She had a strange sensation of being a little on the back foot.

* * *

The jeep hurtled through the trees and Diantha breathed in the vegetation and faint smell of decay. It had been a long time since she'd been offered the chance to explore somewhere like this. There wasn't much call for trekking through the jungle these days. She didn't miss it as such, but it did fill her with a dull sense of nostalgia.

At the very front of the car Dr. Stone and Martin argued about investors and risk assessment, but Diantha paid them no mind. She got enough of that from her parents. No. For now she was happy to sit back and relax. Or at the very least _try_ to relax.

The jeep broke through the tree line and continued it's journey onwards across an open field leading to a large hill. Somewhere in the distance Diantha could hear the shrill cries of flying Pokemon, though it wasn't a cry she recognised so probably not a Pokemon native to the Kalos region.

From the row of seats in front of her, Cynthia twisted her body around to face the back of the vehicle.

"How's Wallace doing?" she asked, looking at Steven.

"He's well," said Steven. "I've taken a year off from the League to spend some time with my Pokemon, so he's taken up the mantle of Hoenn Champion while I'm gone."

"I'm surprised he isn't travelling with you?"

"He's going to join me when he can," said Steven. He smiled faintly. "He said I can make it up to him by buying him a present in every new place I visit."

Cynthia laughed and Diantha found herself smiling too, though she wasn't sure who Wallace even was. "That sounds about right," she said. "Do you think your uncle has a gift shop on this island though?"

"I hope so," said Steven. He lifted a hand to shield his eyes from the glare of the sun. "I could do with a pair of sunglasses. Diantha had the right idea."

"I always come prepared for any weather," said Diantha, pushing up her glasses with her index finger.

"More than we can say for someone else in this car," said Steven. He cast a sly glance at Cynthia and she straightened up to look down her nose at him.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Aren't you hot?" said Diantha. She'd been wanting to ask that question since she'd watched Cynthia unfurl herself from her car earlier.

"No."

"She's lying," said Steven, thoroughly amused. Cynthia's lip curled downwards into a frown. "Sinnoh's cold. All the time. I saw you sleep outside once without a blanket when the temperature was only a few degrees above freezing. There's no way you're comfortable underneath all the faux fur."

The scenery changed again, but Diantha was too distracted by the conversation in front of her to really notice.

It took Cynthia a moment to respond. "I have an aesthetic," she said. Unconsciously, it seemed, she reached up and tucked some blonde hair behind her ear.

"Sophisticated goth?"

"Maybe."

"Most people grow out of their goth phase in their teen years, you know?"

"This is my business attire."

"It's not."

"I didn't know where your uncle was bringing us. It might have been somewhere cold."

"In the Alola region?" asked Diantha.

Cynthia sighed, though her voice remained calm. "Fine. I overslept and just threw on the first outfit my hand landed on."

"And finally the truth comes out," said Steven, with a grin. "Your nose is already starting to burn by the way."

Diantha forced herself to push down another swell of annoyance. Good to know they'd all been left waiting at the airfield because Cynthia didn't know how to set an alarm clock properly. The other two fell into an easy conversation after that about a cave they'd once explored together. Diantha tried to join in a couple of times, but she just didn't have the easy familiarity they seemed to have with each other. It left her feeling irritable and a little isolated.

They were so engrossed in their conversation that Cynthia and Steven didn't notice when the jeep slowed to a stop. Diantha noticed though and within seconds she was leaning out over the door of the car.

A glistening lake sprawled before them with something that looked like a beach shore on one side and tropical plants she didn't recognise hanging over the other. It wasn't the inherent beauty that really caught her attention though, so much as the life that teemed around it. It was nothing short of a tropical paradise.

"Guys," said Diantha. She didn't look to see if they were listening to her. "Look."

A few feet away from the jeep stood a collection of bright purple Lileep bobbing backwards and forwards in the sun, chattering just loudly enough for Diantha to hear. She smiled then, and allowed her eyes to sweep further up the lake to where a group of Omanyte shuffled slowly across the ground and up a small rock foundation, clinging to the stone beneath them. She'd never seen an Omanyte in person, and her heart juddered at the sight of it. She took a moment to mentally catalogue the feeling; it wasn't often she felt such a childlike thrill of excitement anymore.

"Rampardos!"

Steven had at some point shuffled over from his side of the jeep and was leaning just behind Diantha. He pointed to the other side of the lake with a wide grin on his face. "More than one Rampardos too."

Then Cynthia was up and out of the jeep without even opening the door, coat sweeping behind her in a most dramatic fashion. Diantha paused just long enough to see Dr. Stone give Martin a smug look before moving to follow the other woman.

Cynthia was crouched on the floor at the edge of the lake with her hand out when Diantha and Steven reached her. Her long hair brushed the ground, but she didn't seem to much care at that moment.

A small Tirtouga popped it's head out of the clear blue water, looking at Cynthia's outstretched palm with interest. Cynthia smiled at it and it inched forward. Diantha released a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding.

"This isn't normal?" she asked, already knowing the answer, but needing confirmation.

"There has been some success resurrecting fossil Pokemon over the last few years, but it's...incredibly rare to see more than one of them in the same place," said Steven. His eyes were wide and he twisted one of his rings around his finger. "There's been no effort to create a...conservation area like this before."

"Assuming that's what it is," said Cynthia. Her voice was quiet and serious, but the smile remained on her face and she gently stroked the backs of her fingers along the Tirtouga's head. It looked up at her with a dopey smile on it's face.

"Fossils are rare," said Steven. "I don't know where they found…" He trailed off and looked around. "Everything here feels strange." He wasn't wrong, she thought. Even the grass smelled…_off_, somehow. Almost musty in a way.

Her mind drifted to two of the Pokeballs hanging from her belt. Was that why she'd been summoned here? Because of her experiences in raising fossil Pokemon? If she remembered correctly, Steven had his own set of fossil Pokemon. Was his opinion not enough? "My understanding was that they tend to exist in laboratories or are given to trainers," said Diantha.

"It's too dangerous to just introduce them back into the ecosystem," said Cynthia, presumably in agreement.

"And so we've created our own ecosystem." Diantha turned around; she hadn't noticed Dr. Stone come up behind them.

"How did you do this, Uncle?"

Dr. Stone's eyes twinkled. "I'll show you."

They were led rather reluctantly back to the jeep, Stone chattering all the way about their challenges with local plant-life. Nobody noticed the three pairs of eyes watching them analytically from atop the mountain.

* * *

**AN**: Just fyi, as I'm sure many people do, I'm going to be taking a few creative liberties with Steven, Diantha and Cynthia's backstories here, 'cause to be honest I feel like we just don't know very much about them. After this point the plot will be diverging a little further from the original Jurassic Park movie, but I hope to keep as close to the spirit of it as I can. Anyway, thanks for reading this far.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"I was only joking when I asked if there'd be a gift shop," said Cynthia.

The Visitor's Centre, despite being unfinished, was what Diantha would refer to as grandiose. Everything was white and gold and gleaming and the marble floors echoed with every tap of Dr. Stone's cane. Around them, men and women in matching khaki shorts and shirts were assembling varied collections of bones, presumably to match the Pokemon filled murals that lined the walls. She recognised many of the creatures, but not all of them.

From the middle of the lofty ceiling hung a complete Tyrantrum skeleton. It loomed over them, casting pale shadows over the floor. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the jagged, grey teeth that somehow seemed larger than the ones in the mouth of her own Tyrantrum.

The gift shop was to the right of the entrance and Steven made a beeline for it.

"-the most advanced safari park in the world," Dr. Stone continued, ignoring his nephew's sudden departure. "Attractions so astonishing they'll capture the imagination of the world!"

"Like a living museum," said Cynthia. She seemed the only member of their group paying actual attention to Stone's diatribe.

Dr. Stone pointed his finger at her, a wide smile stretched across his face. "Exactly."

"We're going to make a fortune," said Martin under his breath. "Ten-thousand, twenty-thousand a ticket. We can charge whatever we want."

Dr. Stone inclined his head in agreement, but Diantha suspected his interest in the financial benefits were secondary to his _vision_ for the park. "I didn't design this island only to cater to the super rich, Martin. Everyone should be able to enjoy the wonders we have on offer here."

"Oh course, of course," said Martin with a grin. "We'll have a coupon day." Dr. Stone laughed.

Diantha and Cynthia exchanged a look, and the frown on the other woman's face deepened. It was comforting to know that she wasn't the only one perturbed by what was happening here. The men seemed not to notice and Dr. Stone resumed his tour of the facilities, pointing out features with his cane and greeting every staff member he passed by name. Without fail everybody dropped what they were doing and spoke to the older man like he was an old friend. Stones' enthusiasm had obviously spread to his workers.

Stone was leading them to the next wing of the building when Steven caught up with them. In his hand he grasped a small plush Tirtouga, presumably a gift for Wallace. Diantha's attention was immediately drawn to the logo on the price tags - the outline of an Aerodactyl skeleton with the words 'Prehistoric Park' splashed across it. No time had been wasted on the licensing and merchandising it seemed. Dr. Stone had been very confident that his investors were going to keep funding his park. His confidence, was perhaps, warranted in this case; Martin's eyes had all but become coin shaped.

"Find what you wanted?" asked Cynthia.

"A water type." Steven held up his toy. It was, admittedly, very cute. She wondered if they had an Amaura for sale. "I left the money on the counter. Did I miss anything?"

"Just a distressing display of capitalism," said Diantha, quietly enough so as not to be heard by Dr. Stone or Martin. "I still can't even work out why we're here."

No more words were said as Dr. Stone led them up a set of stairs and then down a plain corridor that had enough pots of paint and stencils lying to imply that it wouldn't be plain for very long. At one point Stone turned his head towards them with a glint in his eye. He led them to a door then, large and somewhat imposing, and pushed his way inside.

The first thing Diantha noticed was the fact that the air conditioning was far superior in this room than it had been in the main entrance. The hairs on her arms prickled with the sudden, yet welcome, temperature drop. It was like stepping into a cave without the hard floors and smell of damp. Or rather, she thought, noting the plaques backlit in a golden glow, a very dark museum. It took her eyes a few moments adjust to the low lighting, but when they did different shaped fossils scattered haphazardly against the walls came into focus. She took a step forward and looked down, feeling strange bumps beneath her feet. Shallow bones protruded from the floor. Her mouth twisted into a frown.

"Don't worry," said Dr. Stone, strangely jovial. "They aren't real bones. This is an exact replica of a cave we found on the island."

"A cave covered in bones and fossils?" said Steven. He had moved over to one of the walls and had pressed his fingers against the etchings there. Diantha couldn't see his face, but she imagined if she could she'd be able to read the awe on it that she could hear in his voice. She didn't know him very well, but at the conference on mega evolution where they'd met he had spoken about the stones themselves with a determined passion. She didn't share his interest in old rocks, but could see even then that studying them brought him a great deal of joy. "Usually you'd only find two or three and even then the chances of finding a viable sample is small."

"That's right, my boy. Enough rocks for you to study for decades and still not be done!"

"And your first thought when you found this…burial ground was to turn the island into a safari park?" asked Cynthia. Whether Dr. Stone didn't hear her or had elected to ignore her was unclear, but she didn't get an answer either way. Privately, Diantha agreed with the sentiment. There was something eerie about the place that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Considering everything was made of fibreglass and plastic it was quite the feat.

"A lot of these fossils are damaged," said Steven. "How did you fill in the DNA sequence?"

"That would be the clever bit," said Dr. Stone.

* * *

"Ditto!"

The two pink, gelatinous looking Pokemon wobbling within their glass cages seemed somewhat out of place in the sterile lab Dr. Stone had taken them to. The walls and floors were white and each scientist wore a lab coat over a plain white shirt. A number of complicated looking machines that she couldn't even begin to comprehend gleamed silver and carefully arranged on every flat surface lay either a series of shiny metal tools and instruments or a long line of test tubes. She wasn't close enough to see what was in any of the tubes and was in no hurry to rectify that situation. On the table furthest from the door sat a row of what looked like glass cylinders. Incubators?

"This is incredible," said Steven. His blue eyes were wide as they slowly roved around the room, until they eventually settled back onto the Ditto. "How do you…?"

"Simple," said Dr. Stone. "Once we put the work into bringing back each Pokemon, we had the Ditto transform into it and we extrapolated the DNA sequence from there. It was quite the challenge," he added with a grin that showed a row of white teeth. "A challenge we were more than up to, of course."

A young man wearing a lab coat came to stand beside Diantha. In one hand was a clipboard and with the other he gestured wildly with every word. "Since then we've actually managed to breed some of the Pokemon with the Ditto. It's harder to control the gender that way, but allows for more inter-species variance."

"Control the gender?" said Diantha. It was the first time she'd managed to get a word in edge-ways since they'd left the visitor's centre. She'd tried to ask a few questions as they'd moved, but had been continuously shushed by Martin who had stared at Stone the entire time with rapt attention, unwilling to allow his monologue to be interrupted.

"We're still working on the ecosystem of the island," said Dr. Stone. "Population control is necessary at this point for security. Maybe it always will be."

"All our Pokemon are female," said the scientist. "We engineer them that way."

Something uneasy settled in Diantha's stomach at the word 'engineer'. "But how can you be sure they're all female? I'll admit…this isn't really my area of expertise, but it just seems…like a level of control you'd struggle to achieve?"

"It's quite simple," said the scientist, with a gentle but patronising smile. "We control the chromosomes. All vertebrate embryos are inherently female to begin with and require the right hormone at a certain developmental stage to make them male. We just deny them that hormone."

When he put it like that it _did_ sound simple. But…

"Diantha's right," said Cynthia. She straightened up from where she'd been examining some kind of whirring machine. Steven hovered behind her, his usual smile replaced with concern. "The kind of control you're trying to achieve here isn't possible. If there's one thing history has taught us it's that life can't be contained. It expands to new territories, and not always peacefully. What you're doing here is…" She trailed off and shook her head.

Dr. Stone's answering smile was incredulous and he twisted his fingers around his cane. Had he been expecting a path of no resistance? Maybe he had. So impressed and blinded by his own cleverness, had Stone swerved even considering the moral implications of what he was doing here? The word 'engineer' still weighed heavily in her gut. They were living creatures; not a science experiment. Part of her wanted to say something. Agree with Cynthia maybe. She kept her mouth closed.

"You're suggesting that a group of Pokemon that are entirely female will find a way to breed?" asked the scientist, amused.

"No," said Cynthia, frustrated. "I'm saying that life…finds a way."

Diantha felt a chill run down her spine.

* * *

Pins and needles shot up and down his legs as he and Kelly made a break for the tree line. It was hard to tell how long they'd been hidden, cramped behind the biggest crates they could find, but the sun was hot and hung high in the sky so he'd guess five or six hours. Not exactly the best weather for attempted stealth, but somehow they managed to avoid detection and disappear into the trees.

"Holy shit," said Kelly, panting heavily and clutching her chest. "I can't believe we made it."

Todd leaned backwards against a tall tree he didn't recognise and nodded his head. His heart pounded so hard he could feel it in his throat. Somewhere behind them he could still hear the genial shouts of sailors and heavy thumps of crates being loaded onto jeeps. "I thought for sure that guy with the dumb hat had seen us."

"He was probably too distracted by that really whiny Gogoat," said Kelly. She puffed out a heavy breath and then started to stretch out her arms.

The Gogoat had been a bit of a surprise. On their admittedly limited exploration through the freighter they'd skipped a few of the doors, but it hadn't even occurred to Todd that they might have been transporting live Pokemon. They hadn't heard a peep from any of them on their fraught journey across the sea and neither of them had seen any of the dock workers loading the Pokemon onto the boat while they'd been scoping it out the night before. Had they just missed it somehow? Or where they being specifically hidden? Whatever it was, it was all good information to note down to take back to the Boss.

"Where the hell are we?" said Kelly.

"No idea," said Todd. "Somewhere hot." Hot and muggy. The back of his Team Skull tank top was already sticking to his skin with sweat. "And leafy."

"It's Alola. Everywhere's hot. And I don't think we were travelling long enough to have left the region."

He agreed, but geography wasn't exactly his area of expertise so that didn't really narrow things down for him. Nothing was his expertise really, if he was being honest. That was why they were here though, wasn't it? To find out stuff like this. Todd allowed himself a smug grin. He bet not many newly recruited team members could say they'd gone on such a wild adventure on their first time out. That would show those guys not to mess with him.

"We should look around," he said.

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea," said Kelly. She stopped stretching and looked at him seriously. "We have no idea where we are, man. It could be dangerous."

"We're Team Skull! Who's gonna mess with us?"

Kelly let out an exasperated sigh. "Todd…you're twelve years old. You're really not as threatening as you think you are. Maybe we should get back on the boat? It's probably going back to Poni Island?"

"No! We only just got here. We have to take information back to Guzma. I said we would."

"We've done enough."

"We've not even done anything! All we know is that a group of people on a boat took some food and some Pokemon to a random island."

Silence fell between them, though around them the jungle teemed with sounds. Pokemon screeched in the distance and trees rustled and creaked despite the distressing lack of airflow. Somewhere to the left a twig snapped.

Then, Kelly nodded her head. "All right," she said, reluctantly. Todd felt a swell of relief. "We'll have a quick look around, okay? But if we can't find anything I really think we should head back to the boat. At least I have Litten if we get into trouble." She patted the single Pokeball he could see outlined in the pocket of her shorts.

"Thanks," he said. Then he straightened up, already regretting his words. Team Skull members didn't _thank_ people. "Right so…" He looked around, suddenly feeling at a loss. "Which way do you reckon we should go?"

In the end they decided to walk in the opposite direction to the freighter, because at the very least they were less likely to get caught that way. They moved deeper into the jungle.

Even on a normal day this wasn't the kind of thing Todd usually enjoyed. He'd spent too much time living rough to find much appeal in what he sometimes heard people call 'the great outdoors'. As far as he was concerned there was very little about it that came even close to great and once he earned his place in Po Town he didn't plan to ever leave it. Screw nature. What was so great about a few plants and wildlife? He had his own Pokemon, of course - a small Zubat he'd caught in a stolen Pokeball once. The stupid thing had never once won him a battle though and he felt no affection towards it. Not in the same way Kelly clearly felt for her Litten anyway.

What was the point in a Pokemon if it wasn't even strong enough to protect him?

He wasn't sure exactly how long passed, but they walked through the jungle for what felt like a good old while before they saw anything of note. He'd probably have walked straight past it if Kelly hadn't grabbed his arm.

"Hey. Look at that thing."

His eyes moved to where she was pointing and he stopped walking. "I don't know that Pokemon."

"Neither do I," said Kelly, with ill-concealed excitement. "I thought I knew all the Pokemon you could catch in the Alola region."

It was a little thing (about a foot tall, he estimated) stood on all fours with a yellow body and a large round head. He couldn't quite make out the details of it's face because it was currently being rubbed up against one of the strange trees they'd passed earlier, but from where he was standing it looked and sounded like it might be made of metal. _Huh_. A steel type then? Kelly took a step towards it and the things head shot up.

"It's so cute," said Kelly.

"You think they're all cute," said Todd, unimpressed. The Pokemon's big eyes stared at him. "Come on. Let's keep moving."

With some reluctance, Kelly pulled her eyes away from the strange looking creature and they continued their trek. Todd swallowed, wishing he'd thought to grab a bottle of water or something on their quick exit from the ship. His mouth felt dry and sticky and he hadn't seen or heard anything that sounded like running water since they'd left the island shore. It might have been his impending dehydration that distracted him from noticing that the Pokemon was following them.

He was glancing around aimlessly when the structure caught his attention. He squinted up through the gaps in the trees, not sure if he was seeing it right.

"Is that what I think it is?" he said, pointing upwards.

"A radio tower," said Kelly.

With unspoken agreement, they altered their course and headed towards it. Electronics usually meant civilisation and so far they hadn't learned a single thing Guzma might be interested in while wading through slightly damp underbrush. The occasional thought niggled in the back of Todd's mind - maybe Kelly had been right and this was a bad idea? He pushed them away with determination though. That was weakness talking, and Todd wasn't weak. He'd show Guzma _and_ Kelly that he knew what he was doing.

His resolve was tested when they finally reached their destination.

Towering metal meshed fences stretched up towards the sky guarding what looked like a few shacks. Large yellow signs warning of electrified fences and danger hung from the both the fences and the buildings they surrounded. A stiff breeze _whooshed_ past them, ruffling his blue hair around his ears.

There was a lot Todd was willing to do for his new boss, but touching a fence that might electrocute him wasn't one of them, so they walked slowly around the perimeter. Neither said anything, but Todd could sense Kelly's unease.

"Who do you think they're trying to keep out?" she asked. Her hand gently cupped the Pokeball in her pocket.

"Or keep in?" said Todd.

"Keeping in those tin huts?" said Kelly, sceptically.

"Maybe not."

They reached a door built into the fence, wrapped in barbed wire and padlocked shut. Kelly grinned and pulled out a hairpin from her tight black curls. When they'd met one of the first things she'd ever said to him was that there wasn't a lock she couldn't pick. He supposed now he'd finally get to see that skill in action.

"Last chance to turn back," she said. If it had been any other time Todd would have laughed at her dramatics, but something about what she'd said rang ominously true.

"Do it."

* * *

**AN: **Some sadly necessary exposition in this chapter. Hopefully things will start to get a bit more exciting soon!


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Though there had looked to be no reprive from the sun in the cards when Diantha had woken up that morning, faint grey clouds had rolled over the island. The heat still weighed heavily, but Diantha took off her sunglasses and hooked them into the v of her shirt. Alolan weather could change abruptly. Or so she'd been told by Dr. Stone when she'd commented on it.

They moved along a pathway that led to what looked like a large metal pen beside a small brick tower. People moved around, calling to each other and pointing at things seemingly at random. In front of her Steven talked animatedly to his uncle, to which Martin nodded along as though he understood a single word that was being exchanged between them. Without the sunglasses concealing her eyes she made the effort to keep her face from showing the utter disdain she was feeling. It was becoming something of a challenge.

"So what do you make of all this?" asked Cynthia. Diantha hadn't heard her come up beside her, but then it was hard to hear anything properly over the crashing and rustling coming from the enclosure they were approaching. She stood up a little straighter, still not even sure what she made of Cynthia, let alone this whole safari park business.

"I haven't decided yet," she said, electing to be honest. "I can certainly see the appeal."

Cynthia made a low humming sound and nodded in agreement. "It's beautiful."

"If you don't look too closely," said Diantha. Cynthia hummed again, and her grey eyes scanned the area, cold and calculating.

Before they could continue their conversation, not that she was sure where they'd have taken it after that, a high pitched, droning buzz cut through the racket coming from the pen. Diantha's eyebrows climbed higher up her forehead as she tracked the location of the sound. Three men led a Miltank by it's neck to a strange crane-like contraption while the creature mooed mournfully.

"I was thinking it was time for a spot of lunch," said Dr. Stone. Diantha tore her eyes away from the Miltank.

"What are they doing?" she asked, gesturing to the Pokemon, that had now been strapped into a harness and the crane and was being lifted from the ground.

"Oh that?" said Dr. Stone. A strange smile crossed his face. "Feeding them."

"Feeding what?"

"The Tyrunts."

The Miltank mooed again, though it didn't struggle against it's bonds as it was held over the pen. Docile and helpless. Nausea began to churn in Diantha's stomach. It had been years since she'd raised her own Tyrunt, and even though hers was vegetarian she remembered very distinctly how it ate. It wasn't pretty.

"Now if you could follow me to-" But nobody was listening.

Steven took off towards the cage, jumping up the steps two at a time, and bumped into the protective fence with enough force that he bounced back a little before pressing himself again against the metal bars. Cynthia followed him at a more sedate pace, but with her long legs she still closed the distance quickly. Her black coat fluttered behind her and suddenly Diantha saw the appeal of the ensemble, even if it was not weather appropriate. Reluctantly, she herself trailed behind, allowing her feet to drag as she did. If she moved slowly enough maybe she'd get lucky and miss dinnertime.

It turned out she needn't have worried. She edged past a man with what she hoped was a tranquiliser gun in his hand and looked down into the pen. The whole thing was covered entirely in emerald leaves and branches, and though she couldn't see past them, based on the sounds below she estimated it to be a good thirty foot drop. Very pointedly she didn't look at the Miltank as it was lowered down between the trees and into the darkness.

The jungle around them fell quiet and Diantha stood motionless, back ramrod straight. The line from the crane hung for a moment and then it jerked. There was a pause and Diantha held her breath.

Then the frenzy began.

The cable was yanked in random directions and the plants and foliage swayed and snapped from the frantic activity beneath. Growls and cries and the sound of wet crunches filled the air around them and, though she couldn't see anything, the mental images Diantha conjured up were grotesque and horrifying. She didn't dare move. Didn't blink.

Then it stopped. Beside her she could hear Steven's heavy breathing as he leaned as far over the barrier as he could to see below.

"Such interesting Pokemon," Dr. Stone commented.

Diantha let out a long, low breath and looked at the man with incredulity. _Interesting_. Around them she began to notice all the sounds of the jungle, that had felt strangely absent for the last minute, drift back. Had they stopped or had her laser focus blocked out everything around her? With her hand she reached up to her neck where her Key Stone hung and held it for a moment. It warmed beneath her fingers.

"Interesting is not the word I'd have chosen," said Diantha. She glanced at Cynthia; her lips were pressed into a thin line and it was difficult to tell what she was thinking.

"Can we get a closer look?" asked Steven. "From a safe distance of course. I didn't bring my running shoes."

"Sorry, my boy. We're still working on an effective viewing system," said Dr. Stone. He clapped a hand onto Steven's shoulder.

"Is there a reason you have them separated from the rest of the Pokemon in the park?" asked Diantha.

The jovial twinkle that had been present in Dr. Stone's eye since they'd arrived dimmed somewhat. "We've struggled to integrate the Tyrunts with the rest of the population so far."

"Why?"

"Because they're monsters," said a voice Diantha didn't recognise.

Dr. Stone clicked his tongue against his teeth and his twisted his face into faux-disappointed expression. "Now that's a little harsh." The man approaching them looked to be in his mid-forties and his light brown hair was speckled with grey. Though he wore the same khaki outfit as many of the surrounding staff, there was an air of authority around him that was missing in the other men and women around them. "Friends, this is Pokemon Ranger Peck." Martin, who Diantha had forgotten was even there with them, pushed past her to shake Peck's hand. "Our local prophet of doom," Stone continued, "but he's worked with the Pokemon here more than anyone."

"You believe the Tyrunt are more aggressive than the rest of the Pokemon in the park?" asked Steven.

Peck looked at Steven, face grim and serious. "Yes." His voice came out in a drawl. Based on his accent she'd guess he was from somewhere in the Galar region. Diantha had never been there herself, but recently a lot of her male co-stars had heralded from there. "I've worked around the world, but never with Pokemon quite like this before."

"You've raised a Tyrunt," said Cynthia quietly behind her. Diantha glanced back and realised she was talking to her.

"Yes," she agreed. Peck looked at her with interest. "It was a challenge," she admitted, "but I can't say I found him to be overly aggressive." She cast her mind back to those early days when she'd been gifted both Tyrunt and Amaura. She'd been young and arrogant and very quickly had felt in over her head. They'd worked through it in the end and both Pokemon had turned out to be loyal friends. "Selfish, perhaps. Unwilling to take direction for a while."

"This is much more that an unwillingness to avoid direction," said Peck. He leaned back against the fence and folded his arms. "They're violent little things. They should never have been allowed to exist in the first place."

Dr. Stone rolled his eyes. "All they need is a little bit of work and we'll have them ready for the park in no time at all, just as we have with the other Pokemon."

"You've had problems with the other Pokemon?" asked Cynthia.

"Just some teething problems," said Dr. Stone. He tapped his cane on the floor. "Perfectly natural with these sorts of things."

"Yes. Teething problems are exactly my issue with these beasts," said Peck. "Blood-lust and much too many teeth."

"They're a species out of time! They must be forgiven for some…preliminary confusion."

Peck turned his attention away from Dr. Stone and Diantha got the sense that this wasn't the first time they'd had this argument. "There have been incidents with the other species too."

"They've calmed down since," Stone reassured them in a way that wasn't even remotely reassuring.

"For now," said Peck. His gaze swept over the Tyrunt pen. "We started out with seven of them, you know. One evolved; we keep her elsewhere. The other three were killed in a pack war, if you can call it that. They tore each other apart."

Behind them, the crane whirred back to life. The cable began to move upwards and out of the Tyrunt enclosure and Diantha turned to look at it, her face twisted into a grimace. Nothing was left of the Miltank. Whether it had been pulled away or consumed completely she couldn't be sure. All that remained was a tattered, bloody harness.

Dr. Stone clapped his hands. "Now, who's hungry?"

* * *

As it turned out the answer to that question was nobody except for Dr. Stone himself. Even Martin looked a bit green as his eyes slid down the limited menu they'd been given. Diantha asked for a salad and passed her menu back to the waiter.

They'd been taken to yet another building for lunch. It was smaller than any of the others, yet somehow more opulent. It hadn't taken Diantha long to realise that this was Dr. Stone's personal offices. He had led them to an entirely impractical oval shaped room with a small round table in the middle. On the wall around them an elaborate map of the island had been painted. Both Steven and Cynthia had spent a long time studying it before either of them had sat down. Diantha wasn't sure what they were hoping to find on it, or even if they'd found it. Their hushed whispers suggested they had.

"Will you just pick something, Cynthia?" said Steven, as he handed his own menu to a waiter.

"I am picking!"

Steven looked at Diantha. Amusement was laced with irritation. "She always does this. Wallace refuses to go out to eat with her anymore unless she's chosen what she wants from the menu in advance." Cynthia's eyes narrowed. "How you get anything done is beyond me."

"And yet somehow I manage it," said Cynthia.

"Unless you have a difficult decision to make like what flavour of ice cream to get, then it takes an extra three hours."

"It does not."

Steven waited for Cynthia to look back at the menu before turning to Diantha and mouthing, "it does" at her. Honestly, Diantha wasn't sure who to believe. Current evidence suggested Steven.

At the other 'end' of the table Dr. Stone and Martin seemed to be in deep discussion. If Martin had been excited before, he was positively giddy by now. "None of the attractions are finished," Dr. Stone said, and Martin nodded along. "The park will open with the basic tour you're about to take, then we'll have more attractions installed over the next two years."

_Attractions_. Another word that didn't sit right with her. They were living creatures; not a commodity. Her train of thought was broken when the waiter returned with a set of glasses and a jug of water.

"That's very ambitious," said Steven. "Especially considering you haven't even integrated all the Pokemon into the park yet."

"I'm confident in our ability to make this happen, my boy. So is your father or he wouldn't have sent you here," said Dr. Stone.

"I can't help but wonder why you and Dad waited so long to bring me into this project in the first place," said Steven. He rested his elbows on the table and linked his fingers together. "As the only member of the family with experience in raising the kinds of Pokemon you have here, I'd have thought you'd want my opinion?" There was an edge to his voice that Diantha hadn't heard before.

"Raising the Pokemon, yes," said Stone, "but that isn't what we're doing here. Your father didn't want you to feel as though you had to devote all your time and energy into this. You already work so hard with the Pokemon League and your own expeditions."

"I see when I get home, my father and I need to have yet another discussion about him making decisions for me."

A controlling father. _That_ was something Diantha could relate to. She'd spent years trying to escape the weight of her parents' expectations for her, and to this day she wasn't sure she'd quite managed it. She had, of course, moved into her own career path against their very strong wishes, but she still felt that constant desire to please them, even if it meant doing things she would never normally do just for their sake. Like coming to a mysterious island in the middle of nowhere because she'd been assured it would be a good business venture, for example.

"Well…that's between the two of you," said Stone, gesturing vaguely above his head. "Still, the point stands. This is a conservation area! You may have experience with some of these breeds of Pokemon, but this isn't where your expertise lies. Here is a place for these Pokemon to live in harmony together. Re-experience our world."

"A conservation area that you'll be charging an entry fee for," said Steven. He took a sip from his glass of water.

"How have the Pokemon responded to humans?" asked Cynthia. Perhaps steering the conversation away from the more personal turn it had taken when just Steven and his uncle were talking. In her hand she still grasped at the menu.

It was covered with a smile, but there was a definite hesitation before Dr. Stone answered. "Co-habitation hasn't been a problem between the Pokemon and our staff." Carefully worded, Diantha noted.

"A limited number of trained staff members aren't the same as the general population," said Steven.

Dr. Stone sighed. "I hardly think you're giving us our due credit. We've come a long way from the rather…primitive methods the Kanto region employed of encouraging their guests to throw rocks at Pokemon's faces."

"That's not a very high bar," said Cynthia.

There was an long pause and Dr. Stone looked around the table with a look of mute surprise, as though he were perhaps only just realising that his guests weren't as on board with his master plan as he'd been expecting. His eyes settled on Cynthia.

"I cannot believe that you of all people aren't excited about what we're doing here," he said.

"Excuse me?" Cynthia brushed some blonde hair away from her eye.

"You, who have devoted much of your life into studying old ruins. Learning of our past. Seeking out the legendary Palkia and Dialga, successfully I might add." Wait, what? Cynthia slapped her menu down on the table. "And here I have brought the past to you! Is this not our wildest dreams come true?"

"First of all," said Cynthia, "I wasn't _looking_ for Dialga and Palkia; I was trying to stop the mad man who was. Secondly, that situation almost ended in a universe-cracking cosmic rewrite, so that's not the compelling argument you think it is. Thirdly, how do you even know about that? Those reports are classified."

"I have my sources," said Dr. Stone. Cynthia glanced over at Steven, who held up his hands and shook his head. Her temple flickered, as though she were clenching her jaw. Diantha wished her assistant was here to write down the list of questions she had.

"See, Dr. Stone, your problem here is that you found this ready made island covered in bones and leapt at the chance to break new ground. Do something nobody has ever done before. You realised you could do it, so you charged straight ahead and nowhere along the way did you ever stop to consider whether you should."

The silence that followed that statement was tense. Dr. Stone shook his head, mouth ajar as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing, while Cynthia seemed to be making a point of maintaining eye contact with him. Martin tapped his fingers rapidly against the table, opening and closing his mouth like he wanted to say something, but couldn't quite figure out how to word it. Diantha understood the feeling; she herself wasn't quite sure what to say next. She sat up straighter and took a sip of her water purely for something to do with her hands. The glass, she noted, was etched with the park's Aerodactyl logo.

"Corsola!" said Dr. Stone suddenly. "In the Alola region Corsola are being hunted to the point of extinction. If I were to create a safe habitat for Corsola to live in we wouldn't even be having this conversation."

"You're right. We wouldn't. I'm not sure what your point is."

"We're giving nature a second chance!"

"You've brought back a dead species to a century they're unfamiliar with. It's one thing to bring back individuals and slowly integrate them into the world via a laboratory or with a skilled trainer, and entirely another to recreate an extinct ecosystem and set boundaries they couldn't possibly understand. Not to mention the integration with humans. They've gone from being the world's apex predators to being mollycoddled in a gilded cage." Cynthia paused. "We have no way of knowing what to expect."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"You can have my Pokemon when you pry them from my cold, dead hands," said Cynthia. Her arms were folded across her chest and, despite already being the tallest person in the room, she held her head high.

Dr. Stone held his hands up in a way Diantha imagined he thought would placate them. "That seems a little extreme. I promise no harm will come to your Pokemon."

It wasn't really the Pokemon that Diantha was concerned about so much as herself, given what they'd already seen today. When Dr. Stone had shown them all to what looked like a high tech locker room, she'd assumed it was some kind of bizarre joke. A bizarre joke that had fallen very short of the mark. Then she'd noticed the circular glass harness that leaned inside each locker with six Pokeball-shaped pockets. It wouldn't have been her first choice, but when Diantha was on set she hardly needed her Pokemon by her side and often left them at home. She had grown accustomed to travelling alone. Cynthia, on the other hand, was beside herself, and Steven didn't seem far behind.

"I haven't been separated from Garchomp in twenty-five years and if you think I'm letting it happen now-"

"-Not to mention sending us out into an island of dangerous Pokemon you can't control without any kind of protection," said Steven, cutting across Cynthia who pointed at him and nodded. Already it was feeling like it had been a long time since lunch.

Dr. Stone let out an audible huff. "It's perfectly safe. Would I send my favourite nephew out there if it wasn't?"

"Honestly, Uncle, I have no idea. Some very questionable decisions have already been made here on my behalf."

"Perhaps," said Diantha, forestalling whatever Cynthia had just opened her mouth to say, "if you told us _why_ we have to leave our Pokemon behind we could move things on a little?" She'd been listening to this circular argument for about five minutes now and maybe she was imagining it, but a dull ache was starting to spread somewhere above her eyes. How it was only two o clock in the afternoon was beyond her. The day had already felt endless.

So far Dr. Stone had been vague about the Park's 'no Pokemon' policy, instead electing to recite security issues and discouragement against guests attempting to capture the creatures living on the island. It was unclear to her if Cynthia and Steven had picked up on it, but she had found it mightily suspicious. Now, he hesitated, making it very obvious they weren't going to like what he was about to say.

"We've had some…difficulties integrating other Pokemon to the habitat," said Dr. Stone. His fingers twisted around his cane and his smile became strained. "It seems to…rile the Pokemon living here."

"What _exactly_ do you mean by rile," said Steven, eyes narrowing.

"Ranger Peck mentioned earlier that there had been other incidents with the resurrected Pokemon," said Stone. "Many of them were caused by the sight of other Pokemon not native to the island. The Machamp we had working with the builders, for example. They became…angry. Aggressive. We aren't sure if it's jealousy over a human trained Pokemon or some kind of biological instinct. It has become necessary to ban all other Pokemon from the island, however, for their own safety."

There was a pause, then, "_And you didn't think to mention this to us before now_? You can't invite three of the strongest Pokemon trainers in the world to a location and expect them not to have brought their Pokemon!"

"Now, now, Steven. Let's not get carried away with ourselves," said Stone. "As long as your Pokemon stayed in their Pokeballs there was unlikely to be a problem. I just feel now that it would be safer for all of us if they were left here."

"So just to clarify," said Diantha, "You want us to leave our only means of defence behind and then for us to wander into the wilds with territorial, angry Pokemon roaming around?"

"What I'm saying is that if you leave your Pokeballs here, in these very safe lockers, the Pokemon won't be angry or territorial."

They argued back and forth like this for some time, and Diantha came to the quick realisation that she hadn't been imagining that headache blossoming across her skull. Sensibly, Martin had stayed well out of it, instead choosing to lean against the wall next to the door with his arms folded. Diantha was starting to think he had the right idea. It would be easier to just do as she was told and then they could get this whole sorry mess over and done with. As much as she did want to see the fossil Pokemon, nothing was worth this.

That was why, after another few minutes of debate, Diantha pulled the Pokeballs from her belt and moved over to the nearest locker. Behind her she heard Steven fall silent somewhere in the middle of an impassioned rant that she hadn't been listening to, but she didn't turn around. She'd had quite enough of that. Instead, she mentally wished her Pokemon a happy rest and then placed them all gently in the holders provided. She felt a flicker of unease as her hand lingered over Gardevoir's Pokeball. Then she released it and took a step backwards.

"I'm bored," she said, turning back to the group. It wasn't quite what she'd meant to say and it didn't quite cover the feelings she was trying to get across. She thought that perhaps Cynthia had understood though, because after holding her gaze for a moment, she gave her a jerky nod and selected her own locker. For some reason, the tension that had settled in her chest didn't lift like she thought it would.

* * *

After what felt like an age, it was finally time to begin the tour of the park. Dr. Stone, having recovered instantly from his argument with his guests, smiled brightly as he ushered them back to the Visitors Centre, where a large car sat waiting for them, sporting the Prehistoric Park logo on each door. Martin allowed himself to be directed into the front by Stone and then he shot a smile at Diantha, so she altered her course and slid into the back of the car instead. Cynthia sat next to her.

"Where are the brakes?" Steven asked, ducking his head to look where the car pedals would usually be. The vehicle gave off a constant, electronic humming sound.

"Oh don't worry about that. The whole tour is automated!" Cynthia moved sideways then, to allow space for Dr. Stone to get in, but he shook his head. "I'd like to come with you, but I have some things to deal with back at the control base," he told them. "Don't worry though! I'll be on the comms installed into the car if you need me and we have security cameras on the dashboard if we need it." _Very comforting_. Then with a wave he sent them on their way.

To say things were tense would be an understatement.

Diantha tried to focus her attention on their electronic tour guide explaining some of the local flora blaring through the speakers inside the car, but she wasn't very successful. It was hard to concentrate with Cynthia sat next to her with that somehow audibly blank look on her face. She hadn't said a single word since leaving her Pokemon behind; even Steven didn't seem to know what to say to her. Diantha wished she knew enough about the women to help.

Instead, she folded her hands neatly together in her lap and looked out the window. Grey clouds rolled past, threatening rain.

The island was, at least, very beautiful. A pathway had been forged through the jungle, cut back enough so as to make the sky visible. The high electrified wire fences that penned in the fossil Pokemon around them was something of an eyesore, but they did make Diantha feel safer. She stared between the lush green trees and bushes, hoping to spot a Pokemon. So far she'd had no luck, despite the tour guide assuring them that they were in Armaldo territory. With the windows closed she couldn't even listen out for any clues about where they might be hiding. Her shoulders slumped.

"So," said Diantha, turning to her silent companion, "Dialga and Palkia? How did that happen?" She'd been wanting to ask since earlier, but it was hard to find an opening amongst the conflict.

Cynthia looked up and though her whole body remained stiff, her expression softened. "I'm not really supposed to talk about it," she said, in a way that suggested she definitely was going to talk about it if Diantha probed any further.

"Come on," said Steven, turning around onto his knees so he was facing them both. "Diantha's one of us now."

Cynthia seemed to think about that for a moment, then she smiled and Diantha felt herself smiling back and wondering, not for the first time, who Cynthia actually was. It was far too late in their acquaintance to ask at this point. "That's true. It will be nice to have another woman at the next tournament. There aren't very many of us."

"It will be nice to have another woman there for more than one reason I'd have thought," said Steven with a grin.

There was a momentary pause and then Cynthia scowled. "Alder." _Out of the loop again_, Diantha thought despondently.

"Yep."

"Who's Alder?" asked Diantha.

"The Unova League Champion," said Cynthia. "You won't be able to miss him when you eventually cross paths. He's the loudest person I've ever met."

"He's been trying to convince Cynthia to go on a date with him for the last...how long has it been? Five years?" said Steven. His eyes twinkled with an amusement his friend didn't seem to share. "Maybe he'll move onto Diantha now?"

"Six, and I don't know why you're all always so entertained by it. He's intolerable. I wouldn't wish that on Diantha. She's going to have enough to put up with with Blue strutting around like he owns the place, as he does with every new contender." Blue - the Champion of the Kanto region; now that one Diantha _did_ know.

"Alder's harmless," said Steven to Diantha. Having had more than enough personal experience with men who wouldn't take no for an answer, she wasn't entirely convinced by Steven's defence. "He's just...persistent. And exuberant."

"There's only so many ways a girl can say 'no'," said Cynthia. Then perhaps she noticed Diantha's unhappy expression because she added, "He'd never push too far. He's just ridiculous. The kind of ridiculous that every time I see him again I'm surprised he's still alive. I once saw him trying to ride a Bouffalant across Humilau City while standing on it's back. Somehow ended up unscathed despite falling off a bridge."

Diantha made a mental note to run an internet search an Alder when she got back to her hotel later.

"Did you leap to his rescue?" asked Steven.

"He's a big boy," said Cynthia with a shrug. "He can rescue himself."

Somewhere in the back of her head Diantha dimly registered a break in the foliage to a sloping field broken up by a small, distant river. She glanced out the window, but none of the advertised Tirtouga could be seen. Maybe there were coming up to the larger lake they'd visited earlier. She hoped this wasn't all the tour had to offer, because as much as she enjoyed the occasional foray into nature (assuming she could ever find the time in her busy schedule), this wasn't really living up to the hype. Only Martin was still pressed up against the window in search of roaming Pokemon. The electronic tour guide droned on.

"Poor guy," said Steven, with faux-sympathy. "Maybe you should give him a chance."

"Or I could just throw myself off the nearest radio tower instead."

"An equally valid option," said Steven.

"Will you three keep it down!" said Martin, looking around with a scowl. "I'm trying to listen to the tour!"

Her first instinct was to protest that she hadn't been the one speaking, but Diantha resisted the urge. He wasn't worth her irritation and she didn't need to defend herself to an overly attentive corporate lawyer. Instead, she looked at Cynthia, who rolled her eyes.

"Well that's us told, isn't it?" she muttered. Diantha smiled faintly.

With the conversation well and truly killed, she turned her attention back out the window.

* * *

Peck whisked through the double doors leading to Prehistoric Park's main control area. This was his least favourite room in the entire park, and there was some stiff competition for that dubious honour. Something about the rows of computer terminals and video screens created a false sense of security that put him on edge. A barrier of safety between the workers and the the beasts living around the island. Stone already took a rather lax approach to security without the illusion of safety within his electronic bunkers giving him another reason to be lackadaisical about it. On top of that, the whole room smelled like grease.

"National Weather Service is tracking a tropical storm about seventy-five miles west of us," he said. Jack, the island's chief technician, turned his head and acknowledged Peck with a nod.

"Why are they all hiding?" said Stone. He peered closely at the wall of monitors, each showing a different group of Pokemon from all across the park. "I didn't pour over half of my fortune into this island to have all the Pokemon hide behind trees when the tourists pass by." On one screen two Archens fought over what looked like an oran berry.

"Sir," said the Peck, resenting the honorific. The man might be paying him, but as far as he was concerned Stone had yet to do anything to earn Peck's respect. "Did you hear what I said?"

"Yes, yes," said Stone, waving a dismissive hand. His gaze was fixed on the dashboard camera of his brand new tour vehicle, and Peck could see why. The actress they'd inexplicably brought on board for the tour looked bored out of her mind and the other guests didn't look far behind. Quite a blow to Stone's ego, Peck suspected. Personally, he'd have liked for them to have run more checks on the vehicle before sending three of the world's most beloved champions out into this accident waiting to happen, but Stone had made it very clear that it wasn't his place to have an opinion on issues that fell outside of his purview.

"I'll keep an eye on it," Peck continued. "Maybe we'll get lucky and it will swing south like the last one." He knew he was talking into the ether, but at least somebody in this damn office needed to be on the ball.

As if to prove his point, a young technician bumped into the back of his shoulder as he staggered towards the large, glass map against the far wall. Peck's hand instinctively twitched towards the tranquiliser gun strapped to his belt. It took a moment for his mind to register that there was no threat here - just a harried worker trying to rush through his to-do list before everyone began their migration home. Unfortunately, Peck would be staying on the island for the night, as requested by Stone, because the chances of their first tour going smoothly was slim to none. He didn't relish the thought; while he didn't enjoy the Park during the day, there was something downright unsettling about it during the night.

"Why are the headlights on?" asked Jack, leaning forward and squinting at his own computer monitor. "It's the middle of the day." Stone didn't respond. "I'll just add it to the list of 'things to fix at a later date' then, shall I?"

* * *

"A charging Rampardos can knock down virtually anything with one hit," said their absent tour guide, which Diantha now vaguely recognised as someone she'd once worked with on a movie. Stone really had spared no expense. "A hundred-million years ago, it lived in jungles much like these, where it tore down trees to catch it's prey. It enjoys barging into objects with it's head to train it's strength and reflexes…" And on it went. It was hard to say how long had passed, but it felt rude somehow to check her phone for the time.

She had been in something of a daze for about half an hour when a member of their group finally spoke again.

"Here?" said Steven. Diantha's eyebrows furrowed; though she was looking, she wasn't really seeing what was going on around her. Here what? Had she missed something? Cynthia looked out the window and then nodded her head.

"Here," she said.

Then without warning, the two of them opened their doors and jumped out of the moving vehicle. Diantha blinked and then stared after them. She was startled back into her self when her own door was pulled open by Cynthia, who was now jogging beside the car.

"Care for an extra-curricular adventure?" she said, cheeks already pink from exertion. In the front seat Martin was twisting around, spluttered protests spilling from his lips. Diantha ignored him, as for her own sanity she had been doing for most of the day. It took her a few seconds to answer, but in the end it wasn't a hard decision to make.

"Absolutely."

Cynthia beamed at her and held out a hand. Diantha took it and allowed herself to be hoisted from her seat. Well, if nothing else, today was certainly keeping her on her toes.

* * *

Back in the control room, Peck slammed his hand down on the nearest desk. "I told you we should have put locks on the door!"

* * *

**AN**: To OS - I'm away this weekend so I won't really have time to do anything fanfiction based for a while, but when I get back I will definitely consider posting on Ao3 as well as here. Thanks for the suggestion.

To everyone else - thank you for reading :-)


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"You've had your fun. It's time to turn back!"

Diantha wasn't sure why Martin had chosen her specifically to air his complaints to. Perhaps he thought Cynthia and Steven wouldn't entertain any more of his nonsense, which was fair given how little attention either of them had paid him so far. Maybe Diantha had brought this on himself by engaging with him in the first place. Unfortunately, she'd been raised to be polite and accommodating. As much as she wanted to tell Martin to shove his objections where the sun didn't shine, she knew she wouldn't. Even in the depths of the wilderness she still had a persona to maintain.

"Where are we even going?"

Now that was a good question. Neither of her companions had thought to share their destination with her, and she hadn't asked. As far as she could tell, they were trekking through the jungle towards the mountain she'd seen in the distance earlier in the day. Clearly they knew where they were going, so for now she was content to follow. Not as content as she'd be if Martin wasn't beside her though. She tried to focus her attention on the strange plants around her instead. Everything looked so familiar and yet alien at the same time. In any other circumstance she'd have loved to have explored this entire island with her Pokemon. Hawlucha would have loved jumping around a new set of trees.

Behind her, she heard a sudden rush of footsteps. She rolled her eyes; Martin had fallen behind again. He panted for breath and rested a hand on her bare shoulder, as if hoping maybe she'd pull him along. She stepped away and his hand fell. They'd only been walking for a couple of hours; it really didn't warrant these theatrics.

Then suddenly Cynthia was stood between them while Steven led the way.

"So," she said to Diantha, "I can't imagine you get to do things like this very often? The life of a Champion can be busy, busy, busy even without a day job."

"'Get to' implies that this is something I'd want to do often," Diantha pointed out. They both ignored Martin's huff of protest.

"You've got me there," said Cynthia said with a shrug. "The specifics of this whole trip aren't exactly the norm for me either." She reached up and pulled back some low hanging vines the shone with moisture so Diantha and Martin could pass. Diantha then saw her wiping her hand on her coat and she felt an instinctive thrill of indignation on it's behalf. Sometimes she forgot that not everybody cherished their wardrobe as much as she did.

"What is the norm for you?" said Diantha. "Spelunking with Steven?"

Cynthia let out a short laugh. "That wouldn't be my first choice either. I like history and mythology. If my quest for knowledge leads me into some caves, so be it. If Steven happens to be in there too then great, but I don't usually stick around for the whole trip. There's only so long I can wait for the man to examine every piece of gravel we happen past."

"If you think I can't hear you," Steven called over his shoulder, "you're wrong. And what I have to say about that is, 'sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me'."

"See what I mean? He can't even throw inane proverbs at me without rocks somehow entering the conversation."

"I'll be throwing something a lot harder than proverbs at you if you keep this up," said Steven, casting another dark look back at them.

Diantha allowed herself a smile. Steven and Cynthia had, admittedly, annoyed her at the beginning of the day with their in-jokes and references she didn't understand. Somehow over the last few hours it had become something of a comfort to see them act so normally, despite the bizarre situation they were in. At the very least it helped to distract her from the prickle of fear she felt every time a nearby bush rustled too aggressively. Without her own Pokemon on hand she was starting to feel increasingly nervous of their surroundings. They really were defenceless out here and the last thing they needed now was to be taken by surprise by a hoard of thirty to fifty feral Mamoswine.

"So your interest in mythology inspired your search for Dialga and Palkia," said Diantha, steering the conversation back to where she wanted it.

"I focused my research on them for a long time," she said, "but the reality of them was…so much more than I ever could have imagined."

"You were scared?" asked Diantha.

"Terrified," said Cynthia, more honestly than Diantha would have expected. She brushed some blonde hair away from her sweaty face, her expression serious. "All that power in one place? With Pokemon like that lurking around the world, we're all lucky they allow us to live."

"Well that's…a sobering thought."

Cynthia offered her a wry smile. "The experience…changed my perspective on things. I get a little intense about it sometimes."

"How big were they?" It was something she'd often wondered about, because etchings scratched into cave walls never really gave a full picture of how big legendary Pokemon were. For all she knew, Xerneas might be the size of a Jolteon.

"Big enough to make most other problems seem inconsequential by comparison."

That wasn't really the answer she'd been looking for, and yet somehow created a clearer picture in her mind. She licked her drying lips and nodded her head.

"Guys," said Steven. Diantha forced herself to push away her thoughts of giant, dangerous Pokemon and returned her attention to where they were. She'd stopped bothering after the trees had become so dense that the canopy had blocked out the sun almost entirely. Or what remained of the sun anyway. The drifting clouds had become darker as time went on and already lunch seemed like it had been a very long time ago. "I think we're here."

"Where is here?" Martin demanded. He stalked past Diantha, who had almost forgotten he was there, and over to Steven. The bottom of his beige trousers had become black with grime and green grass-stains streaked his clothes. She wasn't sure how it had happened because so far her entirely white outfit wasn't looking any worse for wear.

Diantha and Cynthia picked up the pace, shoes pressing uncomfortably into the crumbly, wet ground underfoot. She hoped where ever they were going was away from this particular part of the forest. The oppressive heat and complete lack of air making it through the dense foliage was starting to make her feel uncomfortably stifled.

"Okay, so 'here' might be a bit overstating it," said Steven, when they drew level with him. Sweat beaded on his forehead, but rather than tired, the man seemed exhilarated. "I think if we walk left and follow the mountain around, we'll get there."

They crossed the break in the tree line and Diantha paused to look around. A relatively thin strip of dry soil with a smattering of thick, yellowing grass surrounded the base of the mountain, and if she looked either side of her she could see where the trees leading back into the jungle had thinned out. A gentle breeze tickled her face and she breathed in deeply. At least the smell of decaying plant life and mud was beginning to fade.

Without further discussion, Steven took the lead again the they walked beside the mountain. Martin, to Diantha's relief, seemed so in awe by it's size that, for the time being at least, his mouth had stopped moving. It was understandable; the rocky cliff faces did look particularly threatening from this angle and though they were small, she definitely didn't want to take a hit to the face from any of the rocks that shifted down towards them.

Somewhere in the not-too-far distance, she heard a shrieking cry. Her head swivelled towards the sound, but she saw nothing. Just a Pokemon living on the mountain top, probably. Still, she edged a little closer to her travelling companions. There were safety in numbers, she reasoned.

As it turned out, Steven and Cynthia had done their research well (and suddenly she realised why they'd been staring at the map of the island so intently before lunch), because after no more than five minutes of walking they reached their destination. It was an abrupt discovery really, one moment they were looking at solid mountain and then the next there was a cavernous hole where rock had once been. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Steven do a little skip of joy.

"I really don't think we should be going in here," said Martin. For once, Diantha almost agreed with him. A cold breeze coming from deep within the mountain washed over her and she shivered.

"You're welcome to stay out here," said Cynthia. She pulled a small torch from an inside coat pocket and clicked it on. A narrow, but bright light swept across the interior of the cave, which went much too far back for any of them to see through the gloom. Diantha followed the light as Cynthia brushed it along the walls and then down to the floor. She inhaled sharply and Diantha felt herself take a reflexive step backwards.

"Well that's…lovely and normal," said Steven. His entire face contorted into a grimace even though his eyes still shone with interest.

Scattered across the ground were piles of broken bones and shattered fossils.

* * *

The whole place was a real shit-hole. Based on the ton of supplies he'd seen being shipped to this terrible island, Todd assumed they were heading somewhere that would be full of expensive stuff for him to steal to take back to the boss. Maybe even a few mansions owned by rich recluses or wealthy holiday home owners - they always had a load of cash just lying around. What he hadn't been expecting was a desolate wasteland of trees and little tin shacks full of random machines that didn't even look like they were doing anything. It was hardly better than the cardboard box he had once used as a makeshift shelter from the rain. What was the point in pumping a load of cash into those huge fences if they weren't even protecting anything of value? He kicked the door frame in frustration, and then immediately regretted it when pain shot up his leg.

"Did that help?" asked Kelly. She had been maddeningly calm about the whole damn thing and it was getting on his last nerve.

"Yes," he lied.

With every failed attempt at finding something valuable, he felt his heart beat a little quicker and his stomach churn. He couldn't let this have been a waste of time. He just _couldn't_. Not after making such a big deal about it back in Po Town and not after dragging Kelly along for the ride. He swallowed against his dry throat and wiped his sweaty palms on his shorts. Thankfully, Kelly was already a few feet ahead of him and moving towards the next makeshift building and didn't see him falter. He took a deep breath and quickened his pace to catch up to her.

They'd left the biggest shack until last. This one, he thought, could almost be considered a real building. The corrugated metal panels reached high enough that it could have been a two-storey structure and unlike the other huts, this one had no windows. The air around them had cooled down since the clouds had rolled over the sun, but Todd dreaded to think how hot it was going to be there.

They walked around the building until they came to a door. Kelly raised an eyebrow.

"This one has it's own lock," she said, already reaching into her pocket to pull out small roll of tools she had used to get them past the first fence. Todd felt a flicker of excitement. Surely if there was anything worth stealing, it would be in here. In his experience, people didn't lock doors for no reason.

It took less than a minute for Kelly to remove the padlock from the door handle, but to Todd it felt like a lifetime. He tapped his fingers against the warm metal walls and then jumped when the chains holding the door in place fell to the ground. _Finally_.

Kelly too a step to the side and allowed him to enter the shack first. Whether it was because she honestly didn't care what was in there or if it was because she didn't want to be stampeded by Todd again, he wasn't sure. Still, he brushed past her and kicked open the door. It swung back and then bounced against the wall with an almighty clang that reverberated through his skull.

Sunlight from behind them poured into the building, but not enough to actually see what was in there. Squinting, he could make out rows of small, faint lights against what he assumed was the back wall. Todd took a few steps forward and then pressed his hands against the inside of the structure, looking for a light switch.

"Found it," said Kelly. There was a click and a dull, white light lit the room. Todd looked up at the strip lights, watching them flicker a few times before becoming brighter. A droning buzz filled the air. "Well this is a bit creepy."

Todd dragged his eyes away from the lights, which he had become vaguely mesmerised by, and looked around. Several tall machines lined the walls, each one grey and black, but all looking entirely different. Thick, dark cables had been left strewn across the floor, some connecting the scattered machines, some seemingly untethered to anything at all and some leading to holes in the ground where the ends had been buried. There were things in the room Todd recognised, but others he couldn't even begin to identify. He shivered in the still, cool air. As it turned out his temperature prediction had been wildly off the mark.

"Some of these are generators," he said, pointing out a couple of them to his companion. He knew there were some bits and pieces from those things that were worth quite a bit of cash. Unfortunately, he had no way of knowing exactly which bits and pieces would be worth carry back home with them.

"Just for these electric fences? Seems a bit much," said Kelly. Despite them being completely alone, she kept her voice low.

Todd stepped over the wires towards the machine closest to the middle of the room. Green lights ran down the right side and beside each one was a label. He stared at it for a moment, his brain slowly taking in the shape of the words there; reading had never been his strong suit.

"RPD-Paddock. TRT-Paddock. Visitor's Centre," he said slowly. Then he frowned. "Visitor's Centre? I haven't seen no 'visitor's centre'."

"There's a lot of the island we haven't seen yet," Kelly suggested, coming to stand beside him.

It was tempting to flick some of the switches and push some of the buttons on the device just to see if anything happened. Or maybe as a punishment to whoever set up this stupid room without leaving him anything at all behind that his boss might appreciate. A repetitive mantra of _no no no no no_ battered his brain, getting louder with every utterance. They'd come so far.

Todd slammed his hand against the machine. "_Shit_. We can't steal any of this! What are we supposed to do?" A gentle hand came to rest on his shoulder and he shrugged it off. Angry tears prickled at his eyes and he mashed his palm up against the cold, hard metal again. Pain reverberated up his arm.

"Hey now," said Kelly. "Calm down. We might not have found anything that we can carry home yet, but we've found loads of information you can take back to Guzma. This stuff might not mean anything to us, but it might mean something to him."

Blinking back his tears, Todd stood up a little straighter. That might be true, he supposed. Just because he was too stupid to get it, didn't mean the boss was. Still, he really really wanted to take something home. Something tangible so everyone would be able to see what a good job he'd done. That he was worthy of a spot in their ranks. Information was good too, he supposed. And maybe he could steal something from the ship home? He bowed his head and wiped his eyes on the back of his hand.

"Yeah," he said quietly. "Okay."

He could hear the relief in her voice when she said, "Okay then. Let's head back to the dock and-" She stopped abruptly. "Huh."

"'Huh' what?" he said. Kelly put her hand on his head and turned him around. "Oh."

The Pokemon they'd seen earlier stood in the door frame, backlit by the dulling sunlight from outside. It tilted it's large metal head to one side, like it was sizing them up.

"Hey, little buddy," said Kelly, apprehensively. "You okay there?" The Pokemon tilted it's head back the other way. Todd found himself moving a bit closer to his friend. Something about the way the thing was looking at him was creeping him out.

The Pokemon took a few steps into the room, it's feet catching on the cables on the floor as it went. It didn't stumble, like Todd was expecting, and instead just pulled the mess along with It. It looked around, something that sounded like a high-pitched, metallic growl coming from it's mouth. Todd's feet were rooted to the floor. This was fine. They'd just wait for it to move out of the way and then walk past it. No big deal.

It moved over to the machine on the far right of the room and brushed it's head against it once, and then again much harder. Sparks flew and the screech of metal against metal made Todd flinch. The machine buckled under the pressure and curved inward. He made a mental note not to let that thing rub it's head anywhere near him.

"We need to get out of here," said Kelly.

"Yeah."

Kelly reached out so she was gripping the side of his tank top and together they side-stepped away from the creature. The second they did, the Pokemon's head shot up and it looked at them.

"Uh oh," said Kelly. "It doesn't look happy."

They side-stepped again and the Pokemon dropped what it was doing entirely and bounded back over to the door, it's little yellow legs landing with small, but heavy thuds. There was no way they could get past without touching it now.

"I thought you said it was cute," said Todd. "Just…move it. With your foot or something."

"I'm not kicking a random Pokemon, idiot! Especially not one made of _metal_!"

"Battle it then," he said, trying to take another step away, but finding that his back was already to the machine . "It looks like it's probably a steel type."

Kelly looked at him then and reached for the Pokeball in her pocket. "You know, that's the smartest thing you've said all day."

He huffed. "You don't have to sound so surprised about it."

"Litten!" Kelly threw the ball in her hand. "Use Ember!"

The small, red cat Pokemon appeared in a flash of light. It crouched forward on it's front legs and hissed at the other Pokemon before unleashing a small blast of fire. The Pokemon didn't move, like Todd expected it to. It bowed it's head and allowed the flames to burst against the top of it's face. Then it raised it's head again, it's eyes seeming to narrow in anger.

"Shit," said Todd. His heart began to pound.

The Pokemon charged forward with an almighty cry that seemed louder than it's body should have allowed. Litten tried to move, it really did, but the Pokemon barrelled into it and sent it careening off to the side. Kelly yelled to it, but it lay on the floor, unresponsive.

That really should have been the end of it, but the Pokemon kept charging. _Shit_. Todd shoved Kelly to the side and threw himself the opposite way. The Pokemon crashed into the machine they'd been leaning against with a shower of electrical sparks. Todd covered his head with his arms and felt little pricks of heat against them. He peeked between them just in time to see the Pokemon whirl around and had to scramble to his feet as it began to charge again. Out of the corner of his eye Todd saw Kelly recall Litten to it's Pokeball.

"It's lost it's mind!" he called, diving again to the side to avoid the tiny, but powerful Pokemon from crashing into his shins. There was another colossal bang as it ran face first into another machine. It reeled back for a moment, temporarily stunned. "We need to get the hell out of here!"

They both made a mad dash for the door. Todd's foot caught on one of the cables, and only Kelly's steady hand on his arm kept him from falling.

"Back into the jungle," said Kelly, already breathless - maybe from exertion or maybe from fear.

Then they were outside, running towards the door Kelly had unlocked earlier to get them into the compound. Todd's legs were longer so he managed to stay just ahead of Kelly, though he could hear her heavy panting behind him. He couldn't hear the Pokemon following them and didn't dare risk turning around to look just in case he tripped again. Instead, he focused his attention on his feet and moved as fast as he possible could. God he hated this island so much. It definitely had not been worth the trip.

A close, airless heat beat down on him, but through his fear he could barely feel it. He could see the trees now and as far as he was concerned that was his sanctuary. At least they could hide in there from this insane Pokemon…and hopefully not bump into any others. He gulped in as much breath as he could and pushed his burning legs to move faster. He thought he could hear a brief shout behind him, but now wasn't the time to be stopping. Not when there was a crazy Pokemon out for his blood.

He couldn't be sure how long he ran for, but he could feel himself starting to slow down, his legs becoming heavy and his breath becoming less easy. He slowed to a stop and put his arm around the nearest tree and closed his eyes.

"I think we lost it," he said, no longer being able to hear the patter of the four-legged beast behind him. He gasped for breath and dug his fingers into the tree bark.

There was no response. Todd frowned. "Kelly?"

Still no answer.

A cold, harsh fear clutched at his heart. _No_.

"Kelly?" he tried one more time, ignoring the way his voice cracked.

He opened his eyes and looked around.

He was completely alone.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

After having a cursory look around, Diantha had found herself a spot on the ground that seemed mostly devoid of shattered remains and had firmly planted herself there. It was interesting (and genuinely disturbing), but it didn't take her long to realise that without even knowing what she was supposed to be looking for, she wasn't bringing much to the table on this little excursion. She'd had a vague but comprehensive historical education, because of course her parents had spared no expense on her private tutors growing up, but as far as she could recall her teachers had never really delved much further back than the last hundred years (give or take a few). So instead, she stood and she watched and she picked up as much as she could from the snippets of conversation between her two companions.

Only Martin stood beside her by the mouth of the cave, shifting his weight from foot to foot and peering around nervously. She accidentally caught his eye and he smiled awkwardly at her. A number of times he'd tried to strike up a conversation with her, and she'd shut down that conversation just as many times. If he made_ one more_ unsubtle reference to his lack of romantic entanglements she wouldn't be held responsible for her actions.

"Steven," said Cynthia. She was crouched over about ten feet away, spotlight trained firmly on the floor. She pushed debris to the side (something Diantha chose to believe was stray gravel) and then, fingernails digging into the dirt, pulled something up.

"Hmm?"

"Catch."

She tossed a jagged looking stone towards him and he caught it with one hand. It only took a few seconds of turning it between his fingers before his face lit up. "An Anorith fossil!" He brought it closer to his face, that somehow was now smeared with dirt. "A viable one too I think."

This had been the second fossil they'd found since they'd arrived a couple of hours ago. Time sure moved slowly when you weren't having fun.

"Doesn't seem like Stone's scientists looked very hard," said Cynthia absently. She brushed her fingers against the cave wall. "Or they found as much as they needed and left everything else here." A beat. "Or there's more than one cave."

Diantha watched as Cynthia bent over again and picked up a short, thin bone from the ground. She frowned. Unlike Steven's more methodical cataloguing of what they'd discovered so far, Cynthia's exploration seemed a bit more haphazard.

"You seem confused," said Diantha, more than anything just to remind them both that she was still there. She wasn't used to being ignored. Not anymore at least.

"I am confused."

"Why?"

Cynthia hesitated. "I'm not sure yet."

"Maybe we should go back to cars the then," said Martin, quick to jump on any excuse to leave - as he had already been doing for the last few hours. "You can ask Richard yourself. I'm sure he'll have the answers you're looking for." He shot Diantha a quick smile, as though they were somehow both in on the same cunning scheme to speed this detour along. She looked down at her nails.

"We'll go soon," said Steven. He was still twisting the fossil between his fingers with a look of utmost rapture on his face. "I think some of the original claw might be preserved in here." He seemed to weigh it in his hand and then nodded to himself.

"So it's just me who thinks we shouldn't be out here then?" said Martin. He received no response. "Right."

A distant rumble of thunder made her jump. Thankfully, nobody noticed over the rather undignified yelp that came from the man next to her.

"I really think it's time for us to go!" he said, his voice high and strangled.

Steven let out a bone-weary sigh and a look of longing crossed his face. "All right," he said, pocketing his new beloved fossil. Whether it was a sense of obligation or pity that made him agree, Diantha couldn't be sure.

At finally getting the response he wanted, Martin all but sagged with relief.

Cynthia turned her head. She had picked up another, smaller bone up off the floor and was staring at it intently. Diantha wasn't sure what she was hoping to find. "I'm not coming with you. There's something here that I'm missing."

"Fine," said Martin, as though he somehow imagined she was talking to him. He turned back to Steven with an urgent look on his face. "Please can we go now."

Reluctantly, Steven nodded. "Are you sure you want to stay here, Cynthia? The wind's picking up. Might be a storm coming."

"I'm sure," said Cynthia. She waved a hand above her head, engrossed in whatever it was she was looking for. It seemed as though she'd found something that had caught her attention at least, because she seemed to be fixated on the same spot. "It's sheltered in here at least. I'll wait it out if I need to. Or you can come back and pick me up later."

Wind whistled past the mouth the cave and trees rustled. Diantha became suddenly aware of how much darker it had become since they'd arrived.

"I'll go with the second one," Steven agreed. "I doubt this cave would make for a very comfortable place to sleep." He turned to Diantha then. "Are you coming or staying?"

Her instinct was, naturally, to get the hell out of there as fast as she could. Not that this ancient Pokemon burial ground wasn't _delightful_.

"Of course she's coming," said Martin. He was already moving towards the cave's entrance, chin held high, but trembling. She felt a surge of irritation.

"I'm going to stay," she said, regretting it almost as soon as the words left her mouth. Unlike the rest of their conversation, this actually seemed to get Cynthia's attention. She looked up and offered Diantha a curious smile.

"All right," said Steven. He seemed relieved, and Diantha couldn't blame him. Though it wasn't her primary motivation, she didn't relish the idea of leaving someone out here alone. Not that she considered herself much of an asset without her Pokemon by her side. Still, there were safety in numbers she supposed.

"You can't be serious," Martin blustered. Quietly, though, perhaps knowing that his words were likely to have little to no effect. "We can't let the face of Kalos stay out here alone."

Diantha ignored him and begrudgingly pushed some debris to the side with her foot so she could move closer to Cynthia. She had, unfortunately, made up her mind. She was staying.

"We're not _letting_ anyone do anything," said Steven, sounding faintly embarrassed by the implication. "She's a grown woman and she can do whatever she wants."

Martin looked like he wanted to protest again, but a sharp look from Diantha silenced him. She wondered if he knew that her main reason for staying behind was so that she didn't have to look at his face for a moment longer. Probably not.

"You know where to reach me if you need me," said Cynthia, presumably to Steven. Whether she'd paid any attention at all to the conversation around her was unclear.

"Same," said Steven. He patted his shorts pockets then, to make sure none of the rocks he'd stuffed in there had fallen out, Diantha imagined. "Stay safe."

"You too," said Diantha. Cynthia mumbled in agreement.

Steven lingered in the cave entrance for a few moments longer, like something was holding him there. Then he sighed, again, and allowed Martin to lead him back into the jungle. Diantha watched them disappear into the trees.

* * *

"_What on Earth do you think you're doing, young man_?"

It was a tone he'd been on the receiving end of multiple times in his life. _Don't do that, Steven. That isn't appropriate, Steven. Wash your face because we have some important investors coming over, Steven_. It wasn't, however, a tone he'd ever heard from his uncle before. As a child, he'd often thought of his father and his brother as diametric opposites. While his father was rigid and traditional, his uncle was a free spirit who had point blank refused to allow himself to be chained to an office job. It wasn't uncommon for a young Steven to sit in his bedroom and ponder what his life would have been like if he'd been born to Richard Stone rather than Joseph Stone. He imagined he'd spend a lot more time adventuring and a lot less time putting on his best suit and shaking hands with men and women he had no desire to even be in the same room with, let alone talk to.

It wasn't until he was older that he realised that Fun Uncle Richard was also Frivolous and Irresponsible and A-Little-Bit-Selfish Uncle Richard. Perhaps that was why it was so jarring to hear the man suddenly adopt the stern role of authority. Even though the attempt fell something short of the mark, he could suddenly hear the similarities between his father and his uncle, and it made him feel very small. Perhaps his uncle's methods of exerting control were more subtle, but Steven recognised it all the same.

"Hello, Uncle," said Steven. He glanced back to make sure Martin was still with him. He'd already had to slow his pace a number of times so the poor man didn't fall behind. "I'm walking back to the car now. I assume it's where we left it still?"

The phone crackled with static and he moved it further away from his ear. "_Yes, it's still where you left it_," said his uncle. "_What where you thinking wandering off like that!_"

"We were assured that the park was perfectly safe for human visitors," Steven pointed out, knowing it was something of a flimsy excuse.

"_That is hardly the issue here_!"

"Well, you wanted my opinion," said Steven. "Our opinions, rather?"

He'd been thinking about it since he'd arrived on this little island. Why his uncle had gathered together such a strange group of people, that was. His own presence he understood. He was family, and a well-known and respected family member at that. Cynthia and her grandmother, at a push, he could justify. With Cynthia's interest and experience with mythology that pre-dated the human race she could conceivably share some insight that had been overlooked by the hired scientists, and Carolina had extensive experience in the preservation of old artifacts and Pokemon remains. Diantha though, that had been a tricky one to work out. Now, he was sure he had the answer, and with it he'd finally understood why they'd all been brought here.

"_Yes_-"

"Then you need to allow us access to the whole island," said Steven. He did his best to sound firm, though he wasn't sure how effective it was. "You didn't think any of us were going to agree to publicly endorse your park before we'd seen the whole thing, did you?"

The silence on the other end of the line told him he'd hit the nail on the head. Even though he expected it, he still felt a faint pang of disappointment. He supposed it was too much to hope for that his father and uncle would have wanted his input for any reason other than free publicity further down the line from three of the best Pokemon trainers in the world. He briefly wondered if Diantha had realised the real reason for their presence here yet. It was hard to tell what was going on behind the perpetual polite mask.

Then, begrudgingly, "_We can talk about it when you get back to base camp_."

"Of course, Uncle. I think Martin and I are about an hour away from the cars."

Beside him, Martin made a strangled noise of distress. Though his complaining had mostly centred around them not doing what they'd been told, Steven could tell the man was struggling with the harsh environment, and the fat raindrops that had started falling five minutes ago weren't helping matters. He tried to assuage his guilt over bringing him along by telling himself that it had been Martin's choice to follow them. An invitation certainly hadn't been extended to him. Still, Steven couldn't help but feel a level of responsibility for the man. If Wallace had been there, he'd have laughed and said it was Steven's overactive guilt complex playing up again.

Maybe after he was off the phone from his uncle he could give Wallace a quick call. He'd probably get a real kick out of this bizarre tale.

"Just you and Martin?" said Richard after another pause.

"Cynthia and Diantha are still in the cave."

In the background, Steven very distinctly heard Pokemon Ranger Peck say, "_I did warn you something like this would happen_."

"_All right, Steven_," said Richard, and from the resignation in his tone it was clear he wasn't happy. "_Just get back to the car as quickly as you can. There's a storm edging closer to the island than we'd like. The last boats have already left so we'll need to bunker down for the night_."

Steven glanced up at the canopy, where infrequent but heavy raindrops were already hitting the leaves with enough force to create quiet _thunking_ sounds. _Edging closer,_ he thought, _might be something of an understatement_.

* * *

Dark shadows stretched into the cave and Diantha moved further inside to avoid the rain that was blowing in from outside. She eyed the swaying tree line. There was no way they were getting back now with only Cynthia's little torch to guide their way through the jungle. She felt a prickle of irritation with herself; why hadn't she gone back with Steven and that awful lawyer while she had the chance? She turned back to her lone companion, who had barely spoken a word to her since the men had left, and raised an eyebrow.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to make a table," said Cynthia. She had wrapped her arms around a rather lumpy looking boulder and seemed to be doing her best to roll it away from the wall. Though it was dark, Diantha could see sweat beading at her forehead with the effort. It moved, and beneath it something _snapped_. "Ooops. Sorry about that, Mr Pokemon." She huffed and pulled it again. It moved another fraction closer to the middle of the cave. "You know, this would be a lot easier if I had Garchomp with me. I feel like I'm missing a limb."

"Given that this park is starting to look more and more like an elaborate prank, I'm not really sure why we couldn't bring our Pokemon in the first place," said Diantha.

"Oh, I don't think it's a prank," said Cynthia. Maybe it was a trick of the light, but her expression seemed to darken. She pulled at the rock again and then almost stumbled backwards as she lost her grip. "Oof."

"Would you like a hand with that?" said Diantha, hoping against hope that the answer would be no. Defying all sense and logic, she'd somehow managed to keep her entirely white outfit clean so far.

"No," said Cynthia. She eyed the boulder critically. "This is probably fine." It didn't look fine. The flattest part seemed to be facing the wall still, and on top rocky bumps jutted out at seemingly random angles. "Water would normally have smoothed this out, but this cave seems strangely weather resistant. There's hardly any decay on these bones…"

"Is that abnormal?"

"Everything about this place is abnormal. Can't you feel it?"

She cast her mind back to their arrival, and God had that only been earlier that day? It was beginning to feel like she'd never even existed outside of this island. Still, the pervasive feeling of nothing being quite right was there, lingering. As much as she'd rather not admit it, she'd been feeling unsettled since they touched down. It even smelled wrong somehow. Cloying and stale. She'd chalked it up to them being surrounded by jungle, which at the best of times gave off the unpleasant aroma of rotting vegetation. This was not the best of times.

"Maybe," she admitted. "Does that mean something to you?" Where she came from, '_I have a bad feeling about this_' didn't really amount to much. Perhaps the Sinnoh region were a more superstitious lot than the people of Kalos.

"It didn't when we first got here, but I've learned not to ignore my instincts."

The cave flashed with light and Diantha's head jerked around just fast enough to catch the tail end of forked lightning striking somewhere into the jungle. The rain was splashing down fast and heavy now. She shivered.

"Didn't see that coming when we left this morning," said Cynthia, also eyeing the storm. She moved away from the boulder and peered out into the gloom. "My coat doesn't look quite so ridiculous now at least."

She couldn't help herself; Diantha snorted out a laugh. If her mother had been around to hear the ungainly sound, she'd have been beside herself. "Unless it's waterproof and you have a hood hidden somewhere, I'm afraid it does."

As soon as she said it, she regretted it. She opened her suddenly dry mouth to apologise, but Cynthia beat her to it.

"I could have a hood in here," she said, completely unconcerned by the disrespect flung her way, it seemed. The knot in Diantha's stomach loosened. "You don't know."

"Do you?"

Cynthia shot her a wry grin. "No."

Thunder rolled across the sky and Cynthia's smile dropped completely.

"Can you hold this?"

She passed Diantha the torch without waiting for an answer and then pointed to the lumpy bolder. Diantha did as she was told and directed the thin beam of light there.

"What are you doing?"

"Being stupidly mistaken about something I hope," said Cynthia.

A sarcastic remark about that clearing things right up was on the tip of Diantha's tongue, but something about the other woman's expression held her back. It didn't feel like the right time.

With what looked like trembling hands, Cynthia reached into the side pocket of her coat and pulled out several thin, greying bones. The ones she'd been looking at earlier, Diantha noted. She grimaced and tightened her grip around the torch. Old as they may be, it felt wrong for them to be disturbing these old Pokemon bones. Disrespectful, even, for Cynthia to be carrying them around in her pocket like they were some cheap trinkets she was taking home as a souvenir. She very much doubted the woman had any actual archaeological training.

Rather than comment on that, she said, "That's a lot of bones."

"Twenty-seven of them," said Cynthia, as though that was somehow a significant number. "All in the same place, so you'd have to assume it's from the same limb, wouldn't you?"

She spoke quietly, like she was talking to herself, so Diantha didn't respond. She watched as Cynthia carefully deposited the collection of bones on top of the boulder and began to arrange them the way she wanted. She worked in silence for a minute or two, and then looked back up at Diantha. In the quickly dimming light of the cave, her face seemed pale and drawn.

"What do you think happened here?" she asked.

Diantha blinked. Honestly, she hadn't thought about it. She probably should have, considering she'd willingly hopped out of the safety of their vehicles and followed two relative strangers out into the jungle to nothing short of a Pokemon tomb. "On the island?" she asked.

"In this cave," Cynthia clarified. "Did someone move these bones here or did they fall here?"

_Fall here_. "You think this was the site of some kind of battle?" Diantha glanced around at the walls where fossils had petrified and become part of the structure. It definitely felt ominous, but the cave seemed a bit small for a wide-scale skirmish.

"Or they were hiding from something."

"That's…a bit dramatic, don't you think?" said Diantha nervously. She shuffled her feet and flinched at the feel of shattered Pokemon remains beneath them.

Cynthia shrugged her shoulders. "They all got here somehow. All crammed into this one space. It's just strange, don't you think?" As she spoke, she kept working, and Diantha forced herself to look away from the shape taking place on the boulder. "I looked for other spots where there might be burial sites or fossils on the walk up here. Didn't see anything though. You'd think if there were truly this many Pokemon on this island that they'd have been spread out more." She paused. "But no. They're all here. In this single cave."

"Well what do you think happened then?" Her voice came out louder than she'd meant, and she flinched as it echoed around them.

"I think," said Cynthia, "that we're missing something. Something that Dr. Stone's scientists missed too. Somehow. I suppose they were only looking for one thing though. A one-track mind, like their boss. And there's not much you can do with these old bones." The hairs on Diantha's arms prickled. She blamed it on the chill being brought in with the wind. "Unless I'm wrong about this whole thing, which has been known to happen."

With her free hand, Diantha reached up to her chest and gripped at the Keystone that hung around her neck. Not for the first time since they'd left the Visitor's Centre, Diantha wished she'd fought harder to keep her Pokemon with her for this trip. Leaving them behind seemed like the sensible thing to do at the time, and it had seemed so important to Dr. Stone. Now she just hoped that ill-informed decision didn't come back to haunt them.

"Diantha."

Her eyes snapped back to Cynthia.

"The torch," she said.

Diantha felt her cheeks flush red with embarrassment. Lost in her thoughts, she'd allowed her hand to drift downwards. "Sorry," she said, pointing the light back at the boulder.

Her breath caught in her throat.

"That's-"

She stopped. Shook her head.

"No. That's not-"

Cynthia looked up at her, and now Diantha finally recognised the look on her face for what it was.

Fear.

"They're not Pokemon bones."

"No, they aren't," said Cynthia.

"This isn't just a Pokemon burial ground."

They were discoloured and jagged around the edges, but there was no mistaking the human hand laid out across the boulder.

Cynthia stood abruptly, and Diantha startled at the action.

"We need to get the hell off this island."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Rain bounced off the car and lighting flashed sporadically across the sky. Despite his disappointment at being pulled away from what felt like a cave of wonders, Steven tried to make the best of it and peered out into the dense foliage looking for any sign of Pokemon life. Now that the sun had set, the park was lit up by floodlights that towered along the man-made road, casting a glare over the glass roof above his head. He had a feeling the brightness would be more than enough to scare off any Pokemon that might have been lingering in the area, but he lived in hope, and the other option was to watch Martin fidget uncomfortably in the chair next to him.

The car drove at a pace he'd describe as painstaking, moving between different enclosures barely faster than he could have walked them. He considered turning the sound back on their electronic guide, but immediately changed his mind. It had served as nothing more than a mild annoyance earlier. It was probably the lack of sound that stopped him from noticing the small, subtitled screen between he and Martin go dark.

The windows were beginning to steam up and he wiped away condensation with his sleeve. He leaned closer to the glass. Through the high, electrified fences something moved.

"A Pokemon!" he said. He squinted into the darkness. Something on four legs. "I think it's a Gogoat." He frowned as realisation dawned. "Tied to a post. That's not a very satisfying meal for instinctive predator Pokemon."

Martin made a faint noise of acknowledgement and wrung his hands together.

* * *

Peck stood in the control room, back ramrod straight, as Dr. Stone paced the floor. They had been watching Steven and the lawyer's (he hadn't bothered to learn his name) progression through the park on the monitors for the last hour. The storm battered the electronic car, but so far it had maintained it's course. He hoped the women had found shelter somewhere because he didn't fancy their chances in the jungle in these conditions.

"Is there no way we can make it go faster?" asked Stone. Again.

Jack looked up from the computer. "No," he said, with a lot more patience than Peck had been expecting. "The safety features won't allow for more than five miles an hour. _Your_ safety features."

The screens flashed white and the three men looked to them. Lightning, Peck concluded.

Then the room was plunged into darkness.

* * *

The car jerked to a stop.

"I didn't touch anything, I swear," Martin protested immediately, holding up his hands as though to prove his innocence.

Steven didn't spare him a glance. "Lightning must have hit one of the power stations," he said. He peered out into the darkness. "I assume my uncle has backup generators on the island. We should be up and running again in a few minutes."

Though he knew it to be true, as he spoke he felt a prickle of unease creep up the back of his neck. He reached towards his pockets to feel for his Pokeballs and startled when he came up empty. He'd forgotten he'd left them behind.

He sucked in a steadying breath. It would be fine. While it would be comforting to know his Pokemon were on hand, he wouldn't need them. They'd be back on their way in no time.

* * *

The static whirring of the lone corner generator kicked in before a sickly green glow lit up the control room, giving off just enough light to see by, but not enough to do much else. Peck's eyes roamed across the now completely blank monitors, and he began to mentally map out the park. One of the first things he'd done when he'd been offered the job here was memorise the blueprints for the entire island. Knowing the terrain was often the difference between life and death in his line of work.

"They're not working," said Jack. He leaned closer to his computer screen and adjusted the glasses on his face.

"What do you mean they're not working?" said Stone, aghast. "Fix it!" He looked at Peck as though he would somehow have the answers.

"I mean what I said," said Jack. He pressed some keys and words flashed across the monitor. System failure. System failure. System failure. "The backup generators aren't online."

For a few moments, the only sound in the room was the tapping of Jack's fingers against his keyboard. He slammed his hand down against the return key. System failure. System failure. System failure.

"Shit!"

"Does it say what the problem is?" asked Peck. If nothing waylaid him, he could be to the generators in half an hour if he moved fast.

Jack's fingers flew across the keys and Stone began to pace again, tapping his stick on the floor as his did so.

"It…" Jack paused. "It could be a power surge. Or there's damage to the machines. I'll run a diagnostic programme, but it could take over an hour."

"You sound confused," Peck drawled. He pulled the tranquiliser gun from his belt and examined it.

"It's more than one generator with separate connections," Jack said. "They shouldn't all be damaged at once. We kept them separate to avoid this problem."

"Unless something got in there and destroyed them."

Stone stopped. "No Pokemon could have got through those fences. The building is locked. I took _every_ precaution."

"If that were the case, we wouldn't be having this problem now," said Peck. Satisfied that it was still in working condition, he returned his tranquiliser gun back to his belt. He had a feeling he might need it.

* * *

Steven tapped his fingers against his knee. Not much time had passed, but boredom had well and truly set in, and without the air conditioning running so had the heat. The rain had slowed, though in the distance he could still hear the deep rumble of thunder. If they didn't start moving soon he was debating the merit of getting out of the car and walking the rest of the way back to the visitor's centre. Surely they must be getting closer to it now?

"We should call Dr. Stone," Martin blurted out.

"He's watching us on the monitors." He offered the man a gentle smile in an attempt to calm him down. "He knows we're stuck and I'm sure he's doing everything he can to fix it."

"But-"

"No buts," said Steven, firmly. "Everything is going to be fine. We'll be back soon."

Martin still seemed unsettled, but also seemed unwilling to argue the matter. Steven turned his attention back towards the Pokemon enclosure. Something akin to dread began to twist in his stomach.

"Did you feel that?"

* * *

"Sir," said Peck, "I really think it would behove you to calm down."

Stone's jaw clenched and he turned to glare at Peck. Given his decades of experience with scary Pokemon and significantly scarier men, Peck was unmoved. "My nephew is stranded in the middle of our park and you want me to calm down!"

"Yes," said Peck. "Your nephew is a smart, competent young man, and you do him no credit to assume otherwise. You aren't helping him by panicking." He turned his attention to Jack, who was still prodding at his computer with increasing frustration. "What can we do?"

Jack stopped and looked up. "It depends how severe the damage is to the generators. It could be an easy fix. Or it might be better to just go and get our guests now and get the hell out of dodge." He shrugged. "It's hard to say without knowing more."

The rhythmic patter of Stone's feet as he journeyed from one side to the other came to a sudden stop. "Jackson," he said, "are the electronic fences still running for the Tyrantrum pen?"

* * *

"No."

Steven licked his lips and sat back in his chair. No, Martin was probably right. It wouldn't do to let his imagination get the best of him. He wasn't eleven anymore and there were no monsters hiding under the bed. Everything would be fine.

The ground beneath them shuddered again.

"I don't feel anything!" Martin's voice was high and strangled. "Just the wind!"

"Stay calm," said Steven, feeling anything but calm. He pushed down the desire to check for his Pokeballs for a second time; they weren't there and it didn't matter, because they would be fine.

Another shudder. This time Steven imagined he heard a deep, resounding _thunk. _It was thunder, he reasoned. The storm had just changed direction again. It had swung back around the batter the small island. The most logical explanation.

He wrapped his hands around his knees and took in a deep, steadying breath. In - hold for five seconds - out - repeat three times. It was a technique he'd been taught by a young, sympathetic counsellor his father had hired to help him deal with his mother's passing, and to this day it had never failed to calm his racing mind.

_Thunk_.

Steven forgot to breathe.

"What is that?" said Martin. Visibly shaking, he awkwardly thrust a hand into his pocket and withdrew an expensive looking phone. "I'm calling Dr. Stone."

_Thunk_.

Martin dropped his phone on the floor and scrambled to pick it up.

Unable to watch his companion's pitiful descent into panic, Steven looked back into the Pokemon enclosure.

His fingers tightened around his knees.

_Thunk_.

"Where's the Gogoat?"

"Who cares about the damn Gogoat!" said Martin. He gripped his phone between two fingers just to drop it again. "No!"

Where the Gogoat had once been stood a bent metal post with half a length of chain swaying back and forth.

_Thunk_.

Unable to tear his eyes away from the vacant spot, Steven pried his fingers from his knee and reached out blindly to grab Martin by the shoulder.

"I think we need to get out of here."

He felt Martin stop scrabbling for his phone. "What?"

_Thunk_.

"Now." Lightning flashed. "We need to get out of here _right now_."

Martin tilted his head up and Steven dragged his attention away from the jungle. Martin's eyes were wide and frightened in a way that somehow seemed to calm Steven's own racing heart. They could do this. Everything would be fine. _Look after Martin and worry about yourself later_.

"All right," said Martin.

_Thunk_.

"Good."

_Thunk_.

"Now."

"Okay."

_Thunk_.

Despite the thundering rain, all Steven could hear was heavy breaths in the hot car and the thudding of his heart against his ribcage. He nodded, mostly to himself, and wrapped his fingers around the door handle of the car. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Martin do the same.

_Thunk_.

_On three, _he thought to himself.

_SMACK_.

Steven jerked his hand away from the door in fright, head snapping upwards instinctively towards the sound.

His heart clenched in horror and he pushed himself back further into his seat. Framed around a bent, rectangular shape, the glass roof above them was smeared with red. Beside him, Martin whimpered. Steven swallowed. Surely that wasn't the leg-

_Thunk_.

Movement caught his eye and his head whipped back towards the Pokemon enclosure. Cables that made up the electrified fence were beginning to bow in the middle, like they were being pulled down by something. Something a lot bigger than him. Martin gasped for breath as, one by one, the wires began to snap.

"What is it?" said Martin urgently. Bruising fingers wrapped themselves around Steven's bicep.

Steven held up a hand to silence him, his own heart thundering in his chest, and the pincer-like grip on his arm tightened. He peered out into the darkness and was just able to make out the shape of a large, solid claw cutting through the defences.

For a moment the world around him stood still. The last cable fell.

Then, standing about twelve feet from the ground, a huge, spiked head pushed it's way through the foliage. It was hard to hear anything over the sound of fat raindrops hammering against the car, but Steven fancied he could hear a low growl emitting from the beast's throat. It moved forward (_thunk_), bringing a large nose and jaw into view below narrowed, gleaming eyes. It's mouth hung open, displaying rows of sharp teeth. The half rocky, half leathery looking skin around it's nose seemed to wrinkle as the creature snarled.

"What is it?" said Martin, so quietly that Steven almost didn't hear him.

"Tyrantrum." Unable to blink - unable to even move - Steven watched the creature look around. Gathering it's bearings. As he scrabbled around his mind for some kind of fact about the Pokemon that might help, he suddenly wished Diantha were with him. At the very least she had trained one of these things before. He felt a sudden stab of resentment for his uncle, who had lured them all there without the information or the tools to keep themselves safe. Then he felt guilty, because he was sure that his uncle would be beside himself trying to get them back. _Everything would be fine. They'd figure this out_.

"It's looking at us," Martin said. Steven could feel the hand on his arm shaking violently, but couldn't find it in himself to offer comfort. It _wasn't _looking at them.

_Thunk_.

"Stay very still," he said instead. "Maybe it won't see us."

The Tyrantrum moved forward (_thunk, thunk) _and then Steven could finally see it's entire, hulking form no longer concealed by large, wet leaves. Without his Pokemon by his side, Steven felt his level of fear skyrocket. The unbearable heat of the car weighed down on him. Suffocating. Martin whimpered again and Steven felt the grip around his arm loosen and then drop away completely (_thunk)_.

Within the car there was a mechanical clunking sound, and for one shining moment, Steven thought that power had returned. Then the sound of rain grew abruptly louder and reality crashed back down. Martin had opened the door.

"Stop," said Steven. He reached out a hand to stop the man from making what Steven knew to be terrible mistake. The kind of mistake he might not come back from.

Martin looked back, his eyes wide with fear and his entire body trembling. "It's not looking at us," he said, as though that explained everything. "We can-" He stopped, voice breaking with fear. "We can make it."

"No we can't," said Steven urgently. Martin leaned back, away from Steven's grasping hand and shook his head rapidly.

"We have to go. Look at the size of that thing!"

The Tyrantrum wasn't looking at them now, it's body turned to the left and it's head turned upwards as though it was sniffing the air.

_"_There's nowhere to go," said Steven. His whole body shivered despite the heat and his arm dropped impotently by his side. _"Please_."

Martin shook his head.

"No!" Steven cried, lunging forward to grab the other man. But it was too late.

Martin all but fell out of the vehicle, and maybe he'd have made it if he hadn't slammed the door behind him with such a resounding _bang. _Tyrantrum's head snapped towards the car and Steven quailed under it's unforgiving gaze. A staccato mantra of no, no, no, no, no began to pulse against Steven's brain, seemingly in time with his rapidly beating heart. Knowing it was suicidal, but also knowing he couldn't leave Martin outside alone, his own shaking hand reached for the car door. No. No. No.

_Thunk. Thunk. Thunk._

The whole world shook beneath the Pokemon's humongous clawed feet as it picked up speed towards Martin.

Steven threw open the door.

"Stop!" he yelled, having no idea what he was going to do if the Tyrantrum did in fact stop.

It didn't.

His feet squelched into ground and warm rain pelted down at him as he staggered out of the car. He'd barely moved, but his chest heaved with every laboured breath.

"Martin!"

The Tyrantrum roared and Steven instinctively clamped his hands over his ears and ducked. Martin stumbled, but somehow kept his footing as he ran as fast as he could towards the jungle. Steven took a shaky step forwards in the dark and water sloshed into his shoe. _No_. He had to help him. But what could he do?

_Thunk. Thunk. Thunk._

For a moment it looked like Martin was going to make it to the tree line.

Then Tyrantrum caught up with him.

Steven felt like he was rooted to the floor and water dripped down from his hair, making his eyes sting. He wanted to look away. He couldn't look away.

The Tyrantrum roared again, and maybe Martin looked back this time. It was hard to tell. Then the Pokemon leaned forward, light reflecting off it's powerful muscles. Steven opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out.

Sharp teeth clamped down around Martin's torso and lifted him from the ground. Legs flailed in the air.

_Run_, Steven's mind screamed at him. _Just run. You'll die if you don't. _

His whole body recoiled in horror as lightning lit up the sky, throwing the Tyrantrum and poor Martin into a sharp silhouette. The Tyrantrum jerked it's head backwards and Steven looked away.

"I'm sorry, Martin," he said. His voice was lost to the wind and the rain.

He turned around and ran into the jungle.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"We can't just wander around the jungle," said Diantha, trying to dissuade her very determined looking companion from charging off into the darkness with nothing but a small penlight between them and a can-do attitude.

"We can't stay here," Cynthia argued. "There's something seriously wrong with this cave and I'm not waiting around to become another skeleton for someone to dig up a hundred years from now."

Somewhere in the distance Diantha heard a crashing sound. She paid it no mind.

"And you think we're less likely to be attacked roaming around in the dark than we are camped out here? At least we can hide here until daybreak!"

Cynthia scoffed. "I've never hidden from anything in my life and I'm not about to start now."

"I'll be sure to tell your grandmother that tomorrow after we find your corpse because you tried to punch a Bastiodon in the face," said Diantha.

That, at least, seemed to give Cynthia pause. Her shoulders slumped and she looked around at the cave. "Well what do you suggest instead then?"

Diantha hadn't got that far yet. It wasn't as though staying in the murder cave would have been her first choice either.

"You have no idea, do you?"

"I'll think of something."

Thunder rumbled overhead and she felt the hairs on her arms prickle. It was strange - she'd been in situations like this before. Well, maybe not exactly like this, but her Pokemon journey had not been without its trials. Had she always been so afraid of conflict? So averse to danger? Maybe her cushy life in the spotlight had made her soft. Unless it was the absence of her Pokemon - her friends - that made the difference. She felt a wave of disappointment wash through her. If she'd fought harder to keep them maybe they wouldn't be in this situation. She had been the one to surrender first, and who was to say Cynthia and Steven would have parted with their Pokeballs at all if they hadn't been following her example.

The crashing became louder and Cynthia looked to the mouth of the cave.

"Whatever's making that sound is getting closer," she said. She reached up to brush some blonde hair away from her eyes and then smiled at Diantha in a way that looked almost apologetic. "Hiding might not be a bad idea in retrospect. At least for now."

The surge of relief was immediately tempered by the realisation of what that would actually entail. A full night surrounded by the broken remains of what looked like a violent battle. She swivelled the torch around in search of flat ground, but found none. She shivered.

There was another crash and vibrations knocked some gravel free of the cave wall. It fell with an ominous sort of clicking sound. Diantha's fingers tightened around the penlight.

A hand on her shoulder startled her and she twisted her head to look at her companion. Cynthia smiled at her, grey eyes calm and sure and despite the situation she felt her erratic breathing steady.

"Stay here," she said. "I'm just going to poke my head around the corner and see if I can spot whatever's making all that noise."

Diantha hesitated, but then nodded. "Do you need-" She held out the penlight, but Cynthia shook her head.

"Don't want to attract attention," she said. _Right_, Diantha thought, _of course_.

She watched as Cynthia moved to the entrance of the cave, carefully stepping around the bigger shards of bone protruding from the ground. She reached out a hand to steady herself against the wall and Diantha held her breath, rooted to the spot, as her companion reached her target destination. Cynthia paused, and then disappeared into the rain.

An unexpected moment of terror stole Diantha's breath away. _Don't leave me alone_. The thought flashed across her mind, unwanted and unbidden. She closed her eyes, ashamed of herself. What kind of champion was she? Maybe not the kind she wanted to be.

Then, as quickly as she'd left, Cynthia returned. Her face was pale and her mouth was drawn into a tight line. Before Diantha could ask her what she'd seen, the woman was taking wide strides towards her.

"Further into the cave," she instructed, with the tone of somebody accustomed to being obeyed. "Out of sight of the entrance if we can."

Diantha almost stumbled in her haste to do what she'd been told, and only a steadying hand around her bicep kept her on her feet. Before she could protest, Cynthia released her and reached down to grasp her hand, tugging her forward. Only surprise kept Diantha from pulling away. It had been such a long time since anyone had dared touch her without permission that she had almost forgotten what human contact felt like. The thought settled uneasily in her gut and she wrapped her fingers around Cynthia's warmer ones.

"What's out there?" she asked, voice low.

"Rampardos," said Cynthia. Her step slowed and she looked around with an unhappy expression on her face. None of them had ventured in this far earlier in fear of encroaching on the home of an irate Pokemon. "Rampardoses? Rampardi? Whatever the word is for too many Rampardos. Steven would know."

Diantha swallowed. "I hope Steven made it back to the Visitor's Centre okay."

"There's no reason he shouldn't have," said Cynthia, though the expression on her face belied her words. "Dr Stone's people have been on this island for months and at the very least it doesn't look like any of those cars have taken a beating." It was true, but then why did Diantha feel so uneasy?

They rounded a corner and came to an abrupt stop. "Oh," said Cynthia. The way was entirely blocked off by rock. "That's...strange."

Diantha raised the torch and moved it slowly around the obstacle before them. "What's strange?" It just looked like the end of the cave to her. Wasn't that how weathering worked?

"There aren't any fossils in these rocks," said Cynthia. "It looks like there was a cave in, except for…" She trailed off.

"Except for what?" Diantha prompted.

"I don't know," she said. "It looks wrong." She released Diantha's hand and took the last few steps forward to close the distance between herself and the rocks. She pressed her palm against one and pushed. Nothing happened. "Hm."

If this had happened earlier Diantha would have been quick to dismiss Cynthia's concern, but the last time Cynthia had expressed an opinion about something being_ not quite right_ they'd found a human skeleton mixed in with the remains of what looked like an ancient Pokemon battlefield. Diantha cast a wary look back the way the came; at the very least where they stood now wouldn't be visible from the mouth of the cave.

There was another crash. A louder one this time. More pieces of gravel shook free of the walls around them and Diantha jumped in alarm.

"What exactly were those Rampardos doing?"

"Fighting," said Cynthia grimly. "Each other and the mountain side. And they were moving this way."

"They're charging the side of the mountain?" asked Diantha, aghast. "What if there's another cave-in?" Cynthia didn't seem to have a response to that. "Maybe there's still time to get out-"

"No." Diantha stopped in her tracks. "They're too close for us to get past without being noticed, and I don't know about you, but I can't run faster than a Rampardos."

Her heart began to beat harder against her ribcage.

"I work out," said Diantha, aiming for and falling somewhat short of the mark of levity. "When I'm not too busy." Which was far more often than not.

She was rewarded with a quick laugh. "My legs are longer than yours," Cynthia pointed out. "Think that cardio would help you keep up with me?"

"Was that a short joke?"

"I would never disrespect Kalos' finest like that," said Cynthia.

Before Diantha could reply, there was another crash and the world around them shook. Rocks rained down on them from above and Diantha threw her arms up to cover her head. Bruising stones bounced off her forearms.

They were close enough now that Diantha could hear them. The sound of wet gravel being scraped underfoot of something very big and very heavy and the accompanying grunts that could only really sound from a rock Pokemon. More crashes, but thankfully not to the side of their hiding place this time. No, this was the telltale sound of a battle. Or given the number of voices, a brawl. Diantha brought up a hand to wrap her fingers around the Key Stone resting on her chest.

She straightened up slowly, still wary of falling debris, listening for any sign of the Pokemon growing closer.

"What's wrong with this wall?"

Diantha's head whipped around, eyes widening in horror. "_Shh_! They'll hear you."

"Over all that racket out there?" said Cynthia, waving a dismissive hand but still keeping her voice low. "I very much doubt it."

She had pressed her whole body against the rocky barricade now, pushing her fingers in between the cracks like she was hoping to pull something free.

"Well you'll forgive me for not wanting to risk getting gored on you '_very much doubting_' something," Diantha hissed.

"Ah ha!" said Cynthia, completely ignoring Diantha's protests. Her fingers were firmly wedged around a rock and she pulled gently. Diantha could have slapped her. "Now if I time this right we can…"

She paused, ear turned towards the exit of the cave. Whatever it was she was waiting for, she didn't have to wait long. One of the Rampardos' crashed into the side of the cave. Stones slid down the walls around them and Diantha pushed her fist against her mouth to stop herself from screaming. Then, Cynthia pulled on the rock she was holding.

Diantha watched in horror as she successfully managed to dislodge the rock from the confines of the wall. It fell to the ground with a heavy thud and Cynthia staggered backwards, only just catching herself from falling by throwing out her arms to steady herself.

For a second, nothing happened. Diantha held her breath. _Please don't have heard us_. Then there was another crash outside and the landslide began.

The back wall of the cave began to crumble. Rocks slid down and Diantha jumped to avoid one of them. Then a hand grabbed her arm and dragged her away. She stumbled and allowed herself to be corralled to the other side of the room, Cynthia covering most of her body with her own as the cave seemed to quake around them. Outside, Diantha could still hear the rage of an ongoing battle - _thank goodness for small mercies_. Then she was pushed harshly into a wall, Cynthia's hand pressed above her, maybe to keep her balance or maybe to protect Diantha's head from falling rubble.

Diantha ducked and pressed a hand against her face. Dust rose around them making it hard to breathe and she suppressed a cough.

"It's okay," said Cynthia, only just loud enough to be heard. "You're going to be fine. It's almost over." Diantha wanted to believe her.

Another heavy crash into the mountainside sent the last pile of rocks blocking their path collapsing to the ground with a clatter of noise. Diantha shook along with it and with her free hand gripped at Cynthia's long coat, pulling it closer to her body. She tried to keep her breathing even, but grit stuck in her throat and she hacked out a cough.

Then it was over. The noise quieted to a few pieces of tumbling gravel and Diantha blinked up through watery eyes. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but even the sound of the battling Rampardos seemed further away. She felt Cynthia let out a very long, slow breath and suddenly realised how closely they stood.

Her mouth twisted into a grimace and, with what little strength she could muster, she shoved Cynthia away from her.

"Why the hell," she said through gritted teeth, "did you do that?"

Dust began to settle around them and Diantha clutched a shaking fist to her chest and willed her erratic heartbeat to calm. She shined the torch up at Cynthia's face and watched her flinch away from the light. _Good_, Diantha thought vindictively.

"Sorry," said Cynthia. Her voice cracked and she rubbed a hand across her now dirt streaked face. "I didn't realise it would be quite so...dramatic."

"Dramatic? You could have killed us!"

"I made sure nothing would hit you."

Though she still shook with anger (and no small amount of fear), Diantha felt herself deflate. "That's not the point," she said. "The Rampardos could have heard us. _You_ could have been hit by a rock. What was it you said about not wanting to be another corpse here waiting to be dug up?"

"I'm sorry," said Cynthia again. She sounded sincere, but Diantha wasn't ready to let go of her frustration yet. "I keep forgetting that we're...alone out here."

"Because if you had your Pokemon with you what you just did would would have been okay?" said Diantha, incredulous. Cynthia didn't answer, which she interpreted as a strong 'yes'. Diantha shook her head. "Well I hope it was worth it."

Cynthia offered her a vague smile. "Only one way to find out. Can I have the torch?"

"No," Diantha snapped, bringing the offending object closer to her chest. Maybe it was petty, but she felt safer knowing that the other woman couldn't run off without her. She had already allowed far too much of this sorry little trip to have been dictated by other people.

Cynthia's weak smile fell and she stood up a bit straighter. "All right." She gestured towards the new opening, which up until now Diantha had been ignoring. "After you then."

Hadn't quite thought this one through, Diantha thought with a little annoyance. Not wanting to lose face, she tilted her chin up and turned her back on her companion. Best foot forward. If nothing else, maybe they'd find somewhere they could at least wait out the night that wasn't covered in old bones.

Diantha pursed her lips and picked her way forward, careful not to snag her heels on anything. The ground beneath them, which had already been difficult to navigate, was now littered with a new haphazard layer of jagged bedrock. If she'd known this venture was going to involve so much moving around she'd probably have worn something more appropriate. As it was she dreaded to think what her beloved outfit looked like now. Perhaps Cynthia had the right idea sticking with black despite the heat - at least the filth wouldn't show up as prominently.

"Careful," said Cynthia, hovering just behind her as she finally breached the inner part of the cave.

The first thing that struck her was the smell. The air hung thick around her, heavy with dust and gods only knew what else. She pressed a hand to her face, but it did little to protect her from the lungful of dirt she was no doubt inhaling. If it stayed like this there was no way they'd be able to spend the whole night here.

This was not how she had envisioned her day going.

"Well this is interesting," said Cynthia.

They were stood in what looked like a sort of antechamber. It was small enough that the light from the torch reached the opposite wall, but large enough that it would take more than a few strides to reach it. She moved the beam of light around slowly.

"Stop," said Cynthia. She did as she was told. "There's something on that wall."

Without waiting for her, Cynthia made a beeline to whatever it was she was looking at. Begrudgingly, Diantha followed. As she got closer she began to see something taking shape.

"_Oh_."

A tremor of fear ran down Diantha's spine. She didn't like that tone of voice in the slightest. "What do you mean, '_oh_'?"

"These are drawings," said Cynthia. She brushed a hand over the wall. "Paintings."

"Nice paintings?" she asked, hopelessly. An ancient art gallery was closer to being in her wheelhouse at least.

"I'm afraid not," said Cynthia.

She'd known it was too much to hope for.

"Just take it," said Diantha, pushing the torch into Cynthia's hand. It wasn't as though she had any idea what they were even supposed to be looking for.

Cynthia muttered a quiet, "thank you," in response and began to slowly follow the wall around. Diantha tracked her movements, but stayed glued to the spot and allowed her mind to wander. Now that she was no longer directly in fear for her life, the first pangs of hunger were starting to make themselves known. It must already be late in the evening...meaning there was definitely no chance of them getting back to an island not infested with aggressive Pokemon before tomorrow.

There was a sudden rattle and Cynthia hissed out a loud curse word. Diantha's eyes snapped open.

"Are you all right?" said Diantha, taking a few steps forward. Cynthia seemed to have made it to the opposite corner of the room.

"It's a mural," said Cynthia, rather than answer the question. "A series of events. Painted onto the wall and then barricaded in so they couldn't be destroyed."

Diantha paused to digest this. "So it wasn't cave-in that blocked off the room."

"No."

"I'm really beginning to hate this island."

"So am I," said Cynthia, and something in her voice caught Diantha's attention. A cool breeze, that probably shouldn't have been able to reach that far back into the cave, blew through the room.

"What does the mural show?" An awkward silence stretched out and Diantha shuffled her feet. "Cynthia?"

"It…" she trailed off. "I'd just like to preface this by saying I'm not by any means an expert in these kinds of things. I'm frequently wrong." Somehow, Diantha doubted that.

Maybe it would be better not to know. "Just tell me. Please."

Cynthia looked over her shoulder and nodded. "All right."

She gestured to the first painting they'd looked and Diantha switched her attention. Now that she was looking more closely, she could see the clumsy outlines of several Pokemon as well as the occasional stick figure. Marked in a rusty brown colour. _Lovely_.

"It seems that Pokemon and humans did once live on this island peacefully," said Cynthia. "Finding human bones outside was no coincidence. I think if we dug a little deeper we'd find a lot more of them."

"Oh good," said Diantha faintly.

"It doesn't say how long it took for things to change," said Cynthia. "It doesn't say why either. Or how. Maybe if I had more time…"

"_Cynthia_."

"To cut a long story short," said Cynthia, pulling herself back from whatever it was that was going through her mind, "the Pokemon turned. Or maybe the humans turned on the Pokemon first. These paintings were obviously drawn by human hands and as a species we aren't known for our unbiased accounts of history."

"The Pokemon attacked them?" Diantha folded her arms in front of her and moved closer still to her companion.

"It seems that way," said Cynthia. She moved the light over another picture further down the wall. "This one depicts a great battle." Diantha didn't even bother looking. She couldn't bring herself too. Why had she not gone back to the Visitor's Centre with Steven when she'd had the chance? "Humans versus Pokemon and well...it looks like the humans never stood a chance."

"Merde."

"My thoughts exactly. The images show the Pokemon becoming more and more violent. Interestingly, the depiction of Aerodactyl is a lot closer to it's Mega Evolution than the form we currently know it in-" Diantha turned to glare at her. "-which isn't important right now."

"What next?" said Diantha, not actually wanting to know.

"Based on the...less than scientific depictions of the mountains, it looks like the final battleground was somewhere nearby, which makes sense given all the fossils. I might be wrong about that. I might be wrong about all of this." Diantha wasn't quite sure which of them Cynthia was trying to convince. "The rest is just guesswork, but it looks like this place was a last attempt for the humans to make sure nothing like this happened again. They barricaded themselves in here and drew these to warn people. To warn us."

Diantha let out a laugh, that even to her own ears sounded hysterical. "Maybe if they wanted to warn us they shouldn't have hidden it so well!" Then she paused, a horrible feeling sinking in her gut. "What do you mean they barricaded themselves in here?"

Cynthia grimaced and redirected the torch to the ground not a foot away from where she was standing. Diantha recoiled in horror. If there was any arguing that the last collection of bones they'd found was a human hand, there would be absolutely no denying that this skeleton belonged to a human. Beside it sat a crudely carved stone bowl that looked like it might once have contained the paint used to decorate the walls.

"I almost tripped over him," said Cynthia, remorseful.

Diantha felt like her entire body was shutting down. She felt hot and cold at the same time and her already shallow breathing became erratic. Her fingers clenched uselessly around nothing and nausea churned in her stomach.

Then Cynthia was by her side, a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's okay. Just breathe."

"How is this okay?" Diantha bit out.

"It's not," Cynthia conceded, and Diantha laughed that horrible, hysterical laugh again.

"What are we going to do?"

"We're going to survive," said Cynthia, with grim determination.

* * *

His feet slipped and slid dangerously over wet mud, but Steven ran on. His heart pounded in his ears and rain water dripped down from his hair and into his eyes. Or maybe those were tears. It didn't really matter.

An all-but-full moon, partially covered by fading rain clouds, lit the path in front of him, but he had no idea what part of the jungle he was in. He hoped he was heading back towards the cave he'd left Cynthia and Diantha in. Or the Visitor's Centre. Bring surrounded by trees, however thinly spaced, made it impossible to know and he wasn't stopping for long enough to work it out, even though his brain screamed at him to do just that. Blind panic wasn't him. Not really. Still, fear drove him on.

_Poor Martin_.

He cast the thought from his mind as well as he could, which is turned out wasn't very well at all. It would do no good to dwell on it now.

The world around him smelled of damp and decaying plant-life in a way that caught in his throat with each gasping breath. Without his Pokemon by his side, he wasn't sure he'd ever felt so exposed and alone in his life. Though he knew it was impossible, he would swear he could still hear the heavy _thunk _of the Tyrantrum following behind him.

Then his foot caught on something.

He yelped in surprise, ankle twisting awkwardly beneath him as he slammed down into the wet, unforgiving ground. Pain shot up his leg and down his side as he skidded along the mud before coming to an unceremonious stop.

For a moment, all Steven could do was close his eyes and focus on sucking air back into his aching lungs. Every single part of his body hurt. But, he thought, nothing seemed to be broken. Things could be worse, he told himself. Not in many ways, admittedly. He could do this.

Another fortifying breath, and he rolled himself back up into a sitting position. His eyes blurred with tears as a sharp pain pulsed outward from his ankle. Somewhere high above him, a Pokemon cried out. He flinched at the sound. _Archeops_, he thought. Brave of it to be out in the storm. Or maybe stupid.

He pulled his knees up to chest and flexed his foot. It hurt. A lot. Not enough to stop him from walking he hoped. At least there were plenty of trees around he could use for support, and apart from some scrapes his arms seemed uninjured. His breathing began to even out and Steven felt his heartbeat slow. _Panicking won't help anything_.

That was when he heard it.

Steven tilted his head to one side. A quiet whining sound? No. A whimper.

Ignoring the shock of pain that came with movement, Steven slowly got to his feet. Half of his body was caked in mud and he brushed away some stray fern leaves that had stuck to his shorts. The fossils, he noted, were still securely in his pocket, though they'd somewhat lost their lustre after what he'd just seen.

"Hello?" he said into the darkness.

The whimpering stopped.

"Is someone out there?" Steven tried again.

Silence followed and Steven shivered, hoping he hadn't just made a terrible mistake. Then -

"Hello."

Steven blinked. The voice was feminine. Young, even. He hesitated only briefly before moving towards the sound.

"Who are you?" he said.

"Who are _you_?" the voice challenged in return.

A fair question, Steven thought. He approached the tree, behind which he was sure the owner of the mysterious voice was located, and edged around it. What he saw made him stop abruptly.

"Hello there," he said.

A girl of no more than fourteen sat curled up among the protruding roots of the tree. She looked up at him with wide, dark eyes, face streaked with tears. Though she wasn't as filthy as Steven was after his dive, her black and white tank top looked like it had seen much better days and her black hair frizzed wildly around her head.

"I'm Steven," he said, completely nonplussed. His uncle hadn't mentioned there were children on this island.

"Kelly," the girl replied.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Night had well and truly fallen and since the storm had broken the air had cooled considerably. Daintha had planted herself in the middle of the room, not yet willing to sit down on the filthy floor. Or, if she were being honest with herself, do anything that might hinder a quick escape. Her feet were beginning to throb from the complete lack of movement, but right now the pain felt better than the alternative.

Cynthia had examined every inch of the cave and hadn't turned up anything new, much to her obvious disappointment. About twenty minutes ago she'd sat herself down against the wall furthest from the skeleton and had pulled a tiny black book from her pocket. Torch held between her teeth, she'd been writing notes in it since. Diantha couldn't think of a single thing she could possibly have to write down that she hadn't already said. Unless she was just trying to distract herself.

Were they really going to do this all night?

She just wanted to go home. And shower. Gods, she wanted to shower. She didn't think she'd ever felt so grimy before.

"Are you okay?"

It took Diantha a second to realise she was being spoken to. She looked over to her companion and straightened her back.

"I'm fine. Why do you ask?" she said.

"Your scowl is audible," said Cynthia. She had taken the torch out of her mouth and was pointing it just away from Diantha's face. Diantha bristled with irritation.

"Well if you must know, this isn't my idea of a good time," she said, with a lot more restraint than she was feeling.

Cynthia nodded slowly. There was an air of calm about her that Diantha found in equal parts soothing and frustrating. In better circumstances she wondered if they'd have become friends.

"What is your idea of a good time then?" asked Cynthia. She folded up her notebook and returned it and the pen to her pocket. "If you could be anywhere in the world right now, doing anything you wanted to, what would it be?"

Throughout her career Diantha had been asked just that question in hundreds of different ways. _The Lumiose Gazette readers need to know! _She had a mental list of answers she liked to alternate between to keep her interviews fresh and to keep herself in her fans' good books. _Pokemon battling has always been a passion of mine. I like to work out - healthy body, healthy mind (then she'd laugh politely). Meeting my fans is always a real joy. _All of it was true, but ultimately empty words.

"Where would _you _be?" she challenged.

It took Cynthia a moment to answer. "It wouldn't matter where I was," she said eventually. "As long as I had my Pokemon with me. Without them I feel…" She paused. "I feel alone." Her lip quirked up with self-deprecation and she looked away. Diantha felt her shoulders tense. She hadn't been expecting an honest reply.

Her mind fumbled over a way to respond. She briefly wished she had a script in her hand. Something to tell her how to act or what to say. It had been a long time since she'd had to just be… She stopped. Be what?

Mind still blank, Diantha forced herself to cross the floor. She took in a deep steadying breath and leaned against the wall next to where Cynthia sat and allowed herself to slide down it so they were next to each other. Her heart was beating louder than it should have been, and it took every ounce of willpower she had not to react to the dirt that was already staining her outfit.

"I'd be at home," she said, hoping Cynthia couldn't hear the strain in her voice. "Probably in the bath with a mediocre romance novel, a glass of wine and a huge piece of cake. I don't get to do that anywhere near as often as I'd like. I'm always so busy."

"What kind of cake?" asked Cynthia, her expression softening just a fraction.

"Any kind."

Cynthia nodded. "Good answer."

"It's hard for me to get around sometimes without being recognised," she said. Not to brag, though she worried that was how it sounded, just because it was true. "Sometimes I put on the biggest pair of sunglasses I can find and a big coat just so I can wander around the patisseries without being disturbed. Time for myself comes infrequently."

"Fame can be a double-edged sword," said Cynthia. Her tone suggested she was speaking from experience, but Diantha couldn't really be sure.

The wall behind her was hard and uneven, but Diantha tried to relax back into it, stubbornly ignoring a particularly jagged piece of rock poking into the middle of her spine. There was a gentle pitter-patter (that she assumed was rain) coming from beyond the mouth of the cave that under any other circumstance she'd have found quite soothing. As it was, she tried to ignore it and the way it made the back of her neck prickle with unease. Best not to think too much of it. Was it any wonder her mind might play tricks on her in this gods-forsaken place?

Grit rubbed harshly against her calves and she closed her eyes.

"What do you think the chances of us getting any sleep tonight are?" she said.

The idea disgusted her, but she'd never done well without a good night of sleep. She attributed it to having such an active lifestyle, despite knowing she'd been like this since she was a child. A full eight hours or she was grumpy the whole next day. Then the effort it cost her to conceal her irritability from the people around her just drove her further into her bad mood.

"I'm not planning on any," said Cynthia. Somehow Diantha wasn't surprised. "You're welcome to try though. I'll keep an eye out for danger."

"It's a bit early for that yet," said Diantha. "But thank you. Maybe I will."

Fatigued though she was, it would be a long time before she could relax enough to allow her body to drift into sleep. If indeed she could relax at all out here with no protection. She glanced at Cynthia, who seemed perfectly alert and calm, sat with her legs crossed in this dank cave, and felt comforted in the knowledge that she at least knew she could trust her companion to stay true to her word. If Cynthia said she was going to keep watch all night, then Diantha could see no reason to think she wouldn't.

"Do you hear that?" said Cynthia suddenly.

Diantha's eyes shot open and she tilted her head.

"All I hear is the rain," she said. It was louder than before. "It's just getting closer."

Slowly, Cynthia unfolded her legs and straightened up. The torch in her hand flickered. "We're in a cave."

Perhaps Diantha had been a little hasty in her decision to trust this woman to keep her safe overnight. "Yes," she said, with as much patience and as little sarcasm as she could manage.

"So how can the rain be getting closer?"

* * *

"And he just left you here?" asked Steven, his heart sinking for the poor girl. "That's…"

He trailed off and shifted uncomfortably in his clothes. Now that the rain had stopped, a warm breeze had started to rustle through the trees, drying the top layer of mud caked around him. He'd tried to brush it away earlier, but it stuck to him like rotting glue, itching and stinking.

"It sucks," said Kelly, head bowed. "I know. Dad's always been like that though, you know? He brought me to see the cool island and then disappeared on me. Like he always does. I guess there was an emergency or something back at the uh...visitor's centre. I wouldn't be surprised if he's already back home."

Steven was torn.

His friends were still out there (hopefully still in the cave he left them in) completely unprotected and they had no idea that there was an aggressive Tyrantrum on the loose. He needed to find them to _warn _them. He wasn't sure if he'd ever forgive himself if anything happened to them when they were only here because of his family. His incredibly _irresponsible _family. He shoved that thought aside; getting angry now wouldn't do him any good. He'd just wait until they were safe and then he'd start writing a list.

Then Kelly looked up at him hopefully. Fat tears clung to her eyelashes and her skinny arms were wrapped protectively around her chest. She looked terrified. Steven could relate.

He couldn't in all good conscience drag this teenager further into the jungle. Further into danger. Diantha and Cynthia were adults at least, and he wasn't sure about Diantha, but he knew Cynthia was more than capable of taking care of herself in dangerous situations. This kid though…

His heart lurched with guilt and he swallowed it back down as best he could. "We need to get you back to headquarters. We're not safe out here."

"Okay," said Kelly, expression suddenly brightening. "Do you think you can get me back to Poni Island? That's where I live."

Alolan geography wasn't really Steven's area of expertise, but he nodded anyway. After everything that had happened today, helping him get this poor child home was the absolute least his uncle could do for him.

* * *

Diantha didn't think her heart could take much more. Any attempts to calm the adrenaline racing through her veins seemed an act of futility as she dragged herself back up from the hard ground. The pitter-patter of what she had thought to be rain was not so much getting louder, as becoming _denser _.

Cynthia swung the torch around, looking for the source of the sound, seemingly to no avail. They both kept their backs to the wall and just over the sound of hurried tapping Diantha could hear her own laboured breathing.

Then something caught her eye and her stomach gave a sickly lurch.

"Point down," she said. Or at least she tried to say. Fear made the words stick in her throat.

"Hmm?"

"Point it down," said Diantha, this time more clearly. "The light."

Cynthia did as she was told and inhaled sharply. Beneath brown, dome-shaped shells, twenty pairs of gleaming red eyes the size of golf balls peered up at them through the darkness. If she hadn't already been pressed against a wall, Diantha would have taken a step back.

"What are the chances they're friendly?" said Diantha. Her voice cracked under the strain and the Kabuto clicked and scratched their short pincer-like legs together.

"Slim," said Cynthia. Her eyes darted around the cave, looking for an escape that they both knew she wouldn't find. "But if they haven't attacked the staff working here yet then-"

She stopped abruptly when the Kabuto closest to them shuffled forwards, it's yellow legs tapping ominously against the cave floor.

"-let's not stick around to find out," Cynthia finished. Then for the first time that day, Diantha thought she could detect a flicker of fear from her companion. It was gone before she could be sure she'd really seen it.

Tension coiled in Diantha's chest as she tried to map a way through the Kabuto that would mean she wouldn't accidentally touch any of them or jam her foot somewhere between the uneven scattering of rocks that had once made up the wall. The Pokemon moved slowly, but if she were to fall...well, she didn't want to think about that. She took another moment to lament her choice of footwear.

"I don't suppose you have a plan?" she asked, just to make sure.

"I have a few ideas," said Cynthia. "They're all bad. Unfeasibly bad."

Diantha clicked her tongue with irritation. "I'll take the left and you take the right then." She didn't want them crashing into each other in their escape attempt.

There was a pause and then Cynthia held out her hand. Diantha looked down at it and raised an eyebrow. "If one of us trips," Cynthia said.

The Kabuto scraped ever closer, ruby eyes glinting like dying stars in the low light. It was impossible to tell their intent, but a creeping dread still inched up Diantha spine.

"I don't usually allow that until the second date," said Diantha, but she linked their fingers together anyway, grateful for the anchor. In Cynthia's other hand she still held the torch, which (with no small amount of alarm) Diantha saw flicker and then dim. For some reason it hadn't occurred to her that the battery wouldn't have an unlimited life span.

Cynthia offered her a half-hearted smirk. "Noted," she said.

"On the count of three?" said Diantha. Her heart thumped wildly against her ribcage.

"Do you ever get the feeling that you're about to leap from the frying pan?"

Diantha ignored her. "One."

"Two," said Cynthia. The grip around Diantha's hand tightened.

"Three."

In almost perfect synchronization they took tremulous steps forward towards the tiny army of Kabuto. Diantha braced herself for an attack, but the Pokemon continued their slow, twitching shamble forwards over the rocky floor. Nausea rose in Diantha's throat as they drew closer. She was sure in any other circumstance she'd be amazed by the resurrected creatures, but as it was her mind was filled only with images of what would happen if one of the little beasts got its pincers on her. She shivered with disgust and lifted her leg a bit higher to make sure she cleared the small boulder blocking her way. Her calves ached from the strain.

Then they were well and truly in the thick of it. Diantha could barely even bring herself to breathe while they slowly picked their way through the surrounding throng. With every fibre of her being she wanted to look away from the red-eyed creepers on the ground, but she knew that the second she did she'd end up flat on her face along with them. It didn't help that with every passing moment their only source of light faded, making it even more difficult to avoid the unstable blanket of rocks that ensured she could never keep steady footing.

The Kabuto nearest to her feet suddenly scuttled to the side, brushing Diantha's ankle as it moved.

Her heart rate spiked and she let out an undignified squeak of terror, only just stopping herself from launching forward in a wild escape attempt. The hold on her hand tightened and she squeezed back with a trembling vice-like grip. _This is fine, _Diantha thought rather hysterically, as her foot wobbled.

"Steady on," said Cynthia under her breath.

_You steady on, _she wanted to snap back, but fear and her last vestiges of politeness stayed her tongue. Just a bit further.

Then, against all odds, they were through to the other side with all limbs still completely in-tact. Her whole body still shook but Diantha was mid-huge-sigh-of-relief when Cynthia suddenly jerked her forward. She turned her head just in time to see the herd of Kabuto suddenly stand to attention, lifting themselves up on their grotesque little legs to pierce the two women with their unblinking red-eyed stare.

For a moment, time seemed to stand still.

Then - "Run!"

Diantha didn't need to be told twice. The two of them turned and sprinted for the entrance of the cave, only narrowing avoiding the en masse Water Gun that had been aimed in their direction.

* * *

If he were to really concentrate and cast his mind back, Steven was sure he could remember a more stressful night than this one. Probably.

With every passing step through the dark jungle, the throbbing pain in his ankle intensified. It wasn't broken, he thought, but with every extra moment he spent out here trekking through this overgrown tangle of vegetation his worry over doing permanent damage to it grew. On top of that, a dull sting seemed to travel from his collarbone all the way down to his right hip. Hopefully his skin was just scraped, because unless he got himself into a shower soon any deeper wound than that was bound to become infected.

"Hey, old man." Steven blinked, having almost forgotten that he wasn't alone. "Think you can pick up the pace?"

The girl, Kelly, was a few metres ahead of him now and looking back at him with her arms folded. In the low lighting from the moon he couldn't quite make out her expression, but if he was to guess he'd say she probably wasn't too impressed with him.

"I'm coming," he said, doing his best to limp along a bit faster.

"Yeah," said Kelly. "So's Christmas."

For a moment, Steven was taken aback. "I suppose it is," he muttered, forcing himself onward. She wasn't wrong, he conceded. He'd told himself he was doing this to keep his new companion safe, but if anything he was actually slowing her down. He pushed down another surge of guilt. Maybe it was for the best that he hadn't followed through with his original plan to find Cynthia and Diantha.

The sounds of errant Pokemon trilled around them. _Archaeops again_, he thought, if only not to think about anything else. If he had been with Skarmory he'd have flown up there to have a closer look.

He drew level with Kelly and sucked in a deep breath. "How did you end up out here?" he asked. Maybe she was being irritable because she was frightened? If Wallace had been here he'd have encouraged him to talk to her and find out. That was often Wallace's solution to things, though Steven didn't always understand why. That or glitter bombs anyway.

"Just got lost," said Kelly, rather vaguely. "How did _you _end up out here?"

"I ran out on the tour," he said. A decision he now regretted. Not that anything would have stopped Cynthia from doing what she wanted to do, so no matter what he'd decided at least one of his friends would still have been stuck out here. _But Martin might not be dead. _

"Right," said Kelly, after a pause. "The tour. Around the island."

The world around them seemed to be getting brighter. Steven looked up and realised the trees were beginning to thin, allowing more moonlight to breach the canopy. A gentle breeze brushed over his hair, which was still plastered to his head with sweat and dirt. Hopefully that meant they were moving in the right direction. The right direction and also _away _from the Tyrantrum. He shuddered.

"Some weird Pokemon here, right?" said Kelly, like she'd somehow read his mind.

Steven glanced sideways and then almost stumbled over a tree root. He gasped in pain and Kelly rolled her eyes at him.

"I'm just sayin'," she continued, while Steven tried to catch his breath again, "that those things are like...weirdly aggressive."

"What do you mean?" asked Steven. She couldn't possibly have seen the Tyrantrum on the loose, could she?

The girl shrugged. "T-" She stopped. "Me and Litten bumped into some shield faced Pokemon. It was really cute until it started trying to take out my shins for no reason."

"Shieldon," said Steven. Then he looked at her. "Litten? You have a Pokemon with you?"

Before he received an answer, he glanced down and saw the telling bulge of a Pokeball in the pocket of her shorts. Faint suspicion began to niggle at the back of his mind.

"Yeah I kept it hidden," said Kelly. Her hand brushed her pocket protectively. "Poor Litten didn't stand a chance against that thing though. It was crazy strong."

He considered questioning her further on how she'd snuck her Pokemon past the very strict rules that he and his friends had been subject to, when his mind switched tack. "Hang on. The Shieldon attacked you?"

"You got mud in your ears or something? Yeah that's what I said."

"You didn't attack first? Was Litten out of it's Pokeball?"

"Litten was in it's Pokeball," said Kelly, as though she was speaking to a particularly stupid child, "and I didn't attack it. Why would I? I'm not stupid. That's how I got lost though; running away from the little prick."

"Language," said Steven absently. He ignored the equal parts incredulous and disdainful look the girl shot him.

Two Pokemon attacks in one day. Now that..._ that _seemed unlikely. A terrible sort of dread began to seep into Steven's bones and his heart rate, which he had worked so hard to calm, began to pick up speed. He rubbed a gritty hand across his face and breathed hard between his fingers. Maybe it was nothing, he tried to reason with himself. It was probably nothing. Just a coincidence.

But then why did he have such a bad feeling about this whole thing all of a sudden.

Because he'd just seen a man get eaten by a huge Pokemon was why. He could be forgiven for letting his imagination carry him away. That must be it. Trauma did strange things to the mind.

He dug his too-blunt fingernails into the palms of his hands in an attempt to ground himself back to reality. Normally he'd have released one of his Pokemon in an attempt to calm himself. He always felt safer with one of his friends nearby. He supposed most people did. It was, of course, not an option. He looked down at the ground then and shook his head. He shouldn't have allowed himself to be parted from his Pokemon. What had he been thinking?

"Hey!" said Kelly suddenly. "Do you hear that?"

Steven willed his mind blank, and at first all he could hear was the ever present sounds of the forest. The rustling of the leaves, the Pokemon flapping overhead, the sound of his own heartbeat thumping wildly. Then he heard it.

The distant grinding and whirring of a vehicle.

Kelly and Steven exchanged a quick and then launched themselves forward at full speed towards the sound.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

For another driver, keeping the jeep on the wet, darkened roads would have been nigh on impossible. Pokemon Ranger Peck, who had long since memorised the entire layout of the island eight times over, could have made the journey with his eyes closed. He kept his hands firmly on the steering wheel and his focus firmly forward though, because he was the kind of man who knew that just because he could do something, didn't mean he should.

Air whipped past his ears and hair and the jungle around him swayed in constant motion from the remnants of the passing storm, giving the rather unsettling impression that the entire forest was alive. Given the circumstances, another might have fearfully suspected a hundred snapping, vindictive Pokemon were the cause of the jungles current vibrancy. As it was, while Peck was sure there were any number of violent critters out there who would take exception to his presence, he felt in no immediate danger. Not while he knew the lay of the land so well and not with his Pokeballs strapped securely to his belt. Hopefully there wouldn't be a need to call on them for aid, but _something _had stopped the backup generators from working and, unlike his employer, Peck would take no chances.

He'd know this who thing would be a disaster right from the beginning. Though, even his scepticism hadn't covered the idea that they might lose three of the world's most venerated Pokemon trainers to an out of control theme park.

He'd never work again after this fiasco.

He should never have taken the damned job in the first place.

Wet foliage cracked beneath the wheels of the car as he approached the Shieldon enclosure. Five more minutes and he'd reach his destination. Quite what he'd accomplish there remained to be seen - while he had a basic knowledge of the compound's electrical system and how to operate a generator he was by no means an engineer.

He was mentally running through the check-list Jackson had given him when he saw it. Movement up ahead out of the corner of his eye. A hand instinctively went to the tranquiliser gun on the seat beside him, other hand steady on the wheel. He eased his foot off the accelerator and squinted into the darkness.

Someone fell into the road and Peck slammed on the breaks.

Tires squealed as they slid across the muddy ground. Peck braced himself for an impact which, thank the gods, never came.

The car juddered to a stop and Peck jumped out of his seat and over the car door. His heart thumped steadily but loudly as he marched around the vehicle.

Just in front of the car grill lay a dishevelled Steven Stone. Peck felt only a tremor of relief as he knelt down in front of the fallen man and rolled him over onto his back.

Steven's eyes were open, his breathing coming out in short, sharp gasps. His entire body shook violently and beneath what seemed to be a layer of foul smelling muck, his face was stark white.

"Breathe, son," said Peck. Steven's eyes snapped to his and he jerked his head in a nod. One hand came up to clutch at Peck's shirt. "You're safe now." In a manner of speaking.

Peck did some quick calculations. Based on where his car had stopped in the tour, Steven was miles out of the way of where he should be if he'd been heading back to the visitor's centre. And why was he alone? Where was the-

More movement to his left and Peck whipped around, Pokeball in hand. Another human shaped figure emerged from the darkness, though it wasn't the one Peck had been expecting. A girl stepped into the light, a look of wary apprehension on her face. For the first time that day, for the first time in a very long time in fact, Peck was speechless.

He looked back at Steven, who's chest now seemed to be rising and falling with less of a frenzy. Peck noticed his shirt had lost a few buttons, though he couldn't see any blood. Hopefully the man had taken a fall rather than an attack, though the meagre first aid kid in the car wouldn't be much use either way.

"Martin's dead," the man choked out. His red eyes watered. "The Tyrantrum-" He let out a pained breath, but Peck didn't need him to finish the sentence. He got the gist and honestly the only surprise was that it had taken this long to happen. He frowned at the grim satisfaction of having been right all along.

The girl came to stand beside them, arms folded across her chest. Try though she might to conceal it, Peck still spotted the Team Skull logo on her shirt. Curiouser and curiouser.

"All right," said Peck. He helped Steven up into a sitting position. From there, the man seemed to breathe more easily. "We have an errand to run, but after that let's get you back to your uncle."

* * *

Exhaustion and a jittery sort of hyperactivity were at war in Diantha's body. Her eyes felt heavy and her body even heavier, but at the same time she snapped to attention at every sound and movement around them. Despite her fatigue, she was ready to make a break for it the second danger presented itself. Sheer anxiety drove her forwards and, for probably the twentieth time in the last hour and a half, Diantha inwardly cursed her decision to stay out here rather than follow Steven back to where it was safe and dry. Though it was on the tip of her tongue, pride prevented her from complaining to her companion about it, who had barely made a sound since their ungraceful escape from the portentous death cave.

Using the insubstantial moonlight to see by they were following along the edge of the jungle, neither willing to take their life into their hands by trekking through it in the heavy darkness. Part of her knew she was hardly much safer out here than she was in there, but she felt better about it all the same. At least she felt somewhat covered here from prying eyes without actually being lost within the forest with its bizarrely shaped, greasy looking trees and effervescent smell of decomposing vegetation. About half a kilometre to their right began the outskirts of the small, grey mountain range that had looked so impressive from the sky. Its jagged points blotted out the stars.

A branch snapped behind her and she jumped and looked around. Nothing there. _Nothing she could see anyway_, her brain unhelpfully supplied.

As they walked, Cynthia pulled at overlarge leaves to tip rainwater into a plastic bottle that she'd taken from one of her numerous pockets earlier. Diantha wondered if she'd grabbed it from the visitor's centre or if it was just something she kept with her at all times. It turned out that impractically bulky coat of hers was bringing more to the table than just _aesthetics_ at least. Cynthia sometimes offered the bottle to Diantha, who reluctantly drank from it. It wouldn't do to pass out from dehydration out here on top of every other unrelenting horror they faced.

Her foot squelched into a muddy puddle and she cringed as disgustingly lukewarm water gushed into her shoe. Dismay was turning into a simmering anger and she let out a long, slow breath. She should never have come to this island in the first place. She should never have gone on the dreadful tour. She shouldn't have left the tour vehicle. She absolutely should not have stayed out here in the wilderness when she could have returned to the safety of at least the facsimile of civilization.

She needed a distraction or she was going to lose her mind.

"How do you know Steven?" she said, breaking the suffocating silence. Diantha quickened her pace so she drew level with her companion; she hadn't even realised she was lagging behind. "You seem...close."

Cynthia tilted her head and her eyes caught the moonlight, making them shine liquid silver. Diantha found herself mesmerised by them.

"We met when he showed up in Sinnoh making a nuisance of himself," she said in that slow, easy way she spoke, and though she sounded faintly annoyed, her lip curled upwards into a smile. "We were both still young and both happened to be looking for the same old relic. Have you ever heard of the Adamant Orb?" Diantha shook her head. "Well it's...It's not really important what it is, but people had been searching for it for years. In a fit of youthful arrogance I was absolutely convinced I'd pinpointed the exact spot it was buried."

As Cynthia warmed to the topic, her body seemed to relax.

"It was the dead of night and I was sat in the Eterna library surrounded by maps and eighteen different research papers, when some asshole wandered over and began to explain to me why my calculations were off by at least eleven and a half degrees." She sighed. "We argued about it until morning. Probably would have carried on if his husband hadn't shown up and dragged him away." Then she said in the most ridiculous attempt at a Hoenn accent Diantha had ever heard in her life (and she was an actress so she'd heard far more bad accents than any one woman should have to endure): "_For goodness sake, Steven, you know how much I hate it when you make me be the responsible one!"_

Diantha stopped walking. "_Husband_?"

"Well they weren't married at the time," said Cynthia. She frowned. "You've heard Steven mention Wallace a few times since we arrived?"

"I thought…" Diantha faltered, suddenly embarrassed. "I thought maybe you and Steven were…"

Cynthia laughed and Diantha felt heat rush to her cheeks. "Steven and I? Oh gods no. I'm really not his type."

"Oh."

_Stupid,_ she thought. Ten minutes away from civilization and she'd already lost all sense of propriety and offended-

"Anyway," said Cynthia, with a bemused glance in her direction, "the whole thing turned into a ridiculous race to see who could find the orb first. Orb," she then repeated, "not rock. _Orb_. No matter what Steven kept insisting."

Diantha swallowed down the specific brand of rising shame that came from a social faux pas and then cleared her throat. At least it had distracted her from the wet way her foot was sliding around her shoe. Already she could feel blisters beginning to form. "Did you find it?"

Leaves rustled high above them and Diantha shivered, desperately ignoring the sudden feeling that they were being watched.

"We did," said Cynthia. "Eventually. And the place we found it in was...indescribable. Everything I'd ever dreamed of really. Ruins below caves below ruins and in such good condition. So much we hadn't known before!"

"And who won?"

Cynthia's silence spoke volumes and Diantha let out an ungainly snort even as hairs prickled at the back of her neck.

"Well I'm sure it was...close."

"That's what Steven said," said Cynthia, with an edge of exasperation in her voice, "which was so much worse than if he'd gloated like a normal person. He tried to share the credit of the discovery with me. Claimed he'd never have found it if we hadn't been pushing each other so hard, which might have been true, but he still won fair and square."

For a moment, Diantha tried to imagine it. A teenaged Steven Stone and Cynthia bickering over dusty old tomes by candlelight while Steven's longsuffering boyfriend despaired of them. Somehow it was more difficult to imagine Steven as a young man. Every time she tried he merely morphed into a slightly shorter version of himself as she'd met him at the League conference last year. Cynthia, on the other hand, she had no trouble picturing as a belligerent youth, brimming with determination and self-confidence that edged into hubris just a bit too often for comfort. Briefly, Diantha wondered how she might have fit into that trio, or if she'd have fit in at all.

Not that it mattered. She'd never had much time for friends growing up. A rigorous schedule of estimated goals and expected achievements saw to that. But, she thought, somewhat dimly, at least she had the opportunity to rectify that now. The rigorous schedule she followed was of her own making. For the most part.

Diantha bit back a sigh. Had her assistant noticed she hadn't returned to her hotel room yet? Though she was only on this island at her mother's strong suggestion, she very much doubted that either of her parents had noticed that she had been out of contact for the evening, despite telling them she'd call after her meeting with Dr Stone. She pursed her lips, annoyed with herself for even wasting her time thinking about it. Every single time they 'encouraged' her to do something she'd tell herself that it would be the last time. She'd stand up for herself. She was a busy and successful woman and she didn't have time to ask 'how high' every time they told her to jump. Then it came down to it and the word 'no' would stick in her throat.

"The rest is, as they say, history," Cynthia continued. A tree branch snapped behind them and the both looked around. Still nothing there. "I'd never really had a rival before then. It was new. The...spirit of competition, I suppose it was. It's easy to fall back into that rhythm even if we haven't seen each other in a couple of years, though we tend to agree more than we disagree these days."

The mountains were looming closer to them now as the treeline curved outwards. It was a foolish fear, she knew, but what if the jungle never ended? What if they kept walking and walking and it never led them back to the secured areas of the island? This time, Diantha actually interrupted her own train of thought by yawning. She brought a hand to her mouth to cover it. Cynthia looked at her but said nothing.

"I didn't think we'd be this active when the day began," said Diantha, feeling a sudden need to justify herself.

"Neither did I," said Cynthia after a moment. Then she sighed rather mournfully and said: "My feet are soaking."

It took Diantha a second to register what she'd said. When she did, she let out a strangled sort of giggle and immediately wished she hadn't. "So are mine," she said. "It's absolutely dreadful."

They both looked down at each other's shoes, and though Diantha couldn't see a blessed thing down there in the dark she let out another one of those embarrassing little laughs anyway. Cynthia laughed too and it made her feel better to know she wasn't the only one suffering.

"Can you believe it's only been about twelve hours since we got off that helicopter?"

"It would have been even longer if you'd actually been on time," said Diantha. She felt a sharp pang of _oh no you shouldn't have said that, _and then abruptly decided she was done with caring for the day. Maybe just for tonight on this unforgiving cesspit of an island (and how quickly it had shifted from an astonishing marvel to an atrocity in her thoughts) she would speak her mind without fear of the consequences. Or at the very least she would try.

She'd already said a number of things that the voice in her head (mother's voice) had disapproved of, and Cynthia had never minded.

"I know," said Cynthia. "I'm sorry about that. It was a long night. My grandmother lost half of our luggage in transit somehow and I spent hours trying to find it again. Then it was too late to get back into my hotel and I ended up having to rest in the Pokemon Centre. Let me tell you, there's nothing quite like sleeping on the floor to remind you that you're not eighteen anymore."

"You didn't mention any of that this morning." If she had, Diantha might have been a little more charitable and a little less irritated about the whole thing.

Cynthia shrugged and then, bizarrely, bent down to pick up a rock from the ground. She tested its weight and then resumed walking.

"I thought it would be better to just apologise than offer a string of excuses."

That didn't sound entirely true, but Diantha decided to let it go. Anything to make this weary trudge less stressful.

Somewhere in the distance she could hear a gentle hooting.

"Maybe your luggage got lost for a reason," Diantha settled on saying. "A higher power was trying to spare you from this near death experience."

"Could be," Cynthia replied easily. "If I have any say in the matter, next time I'd prefer for the universe to try and save me in a way that doesn't result in my suitcase floating in the ocean." A beat. "Don't worry though; my grandmother's trunk was completely unscathed. Only _my _clothes are encrusted in salt and something I'm pretending not to know are dead Corsola branches."

Diantha's mouth twisted in disgust. She'd skimmed an article a few weeks ago about the declining Corsola population and the pictures hadn't been pretty. Apparently the poor things were almost extinct in the Galar region.

A warm, wet breeze blew past her and Diantha yawned again.

"At least it's an excuse to go shopping," said Diantha. Then at Cynthia's dubious hummed response she said, "Or not." Personally, she always jumped at the chance to refresh her wardrobe. One of the many perks of being Kalos' most famous actresses meant that designers often created outfits specifically for her. Usually, being used for her fame rankled, but in this case she considered it a mutually beneficial arrangement.

A tree rustled behind them. Before Diantha could even react, Cynthia spun around and launched the rock from between her fingers at one of the trees. There was a loud cry of alarm as the projectile struck it's mark. Diantha's eyes widened with astonishment as a small, human shaped _something _toppled into sight, hitting several thick looking branches on it's fall downward.

"Shit!" it cried, as it hit the ground with a soggy sounding _thud_. It? No. Not it. He. "What the hell did you do that for?"

"Oh my!" said Diantha. She sprinted towards the fallen figure, and Cynthia followed more slowly behind her.

The figure rolled onto his back and sat up abruptly. Diantha stopped, almost recoiling at the tearful glare he pointed at her. Even in the dim moonlight she could see the boiling anger of a creature about to lash out.

"Cynthia," she said, her voice strained. "Please tell me you're seeing a child on the floor right now."

"I'm not a child," the child snapped.


End file.
